Azerbaijan on Thursday marked a national day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash killed 38 people and injured 29 survivorsas speculation grew about the cause of the disaster – including whether possible Russian air defense operations could have played a role.
Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted, for reasons still unclear, and s crashed while attempting to land in Aktau, western Kazakhstan. after flying east across the Caspian Sea. The plane crashed about 3 km from Aktau.
A U.S. official told CBS News there were preliminary indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane. The official, who asked not to be identified publicly, said that if the indications prove true, it would further highlight Russian recklessness in its invasion of Ukraine.
Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the plane making a steep descent before crashing to the ground in a ball of fire. Other images and photos showed part of its fuselage torn off the wings and the rear half of the plane lying upside down in the grass.
ISSA TAZHENBAYEV / AFP via Getty Images
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said it was too early to speculate on the reasons for the crash, but said weather conditions had forced the plane to change its planned trajectory.
“The information provided to me is that the plane changed course between Baku and Grozny due to deteriorating weather conditions and headed towards Aktau airport, where it crashed at landing,” he said.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said preliminary information indicated the pilots had diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.
What happened next also remains unclear.
A regional Kazakhstan official appeared to acknowledge Thursday that the investigation was aimed at determining whether Russian air defenses shot down the plane. Manguistau regional transport prosecutor Abylaibek Ordabayev said they had not yet reached conclusions about whether this was the case, the Reuters news agency reported.
Russian anti-aircraft systems targeted by investigation
At the start of the official investigation into the accident, theories abounded about a possible cause, with some commentators saying that holes seen in the tail of the plane could indicate that it could have been the target of fire from defense systems Russian air force like those used to repel Ukrainian drone attacks.
Ukrainian drones have previously attacked Grozny, the provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, as well as other regions in the North Caucasus. Some Russian media outlets claimed there was another drone attack in Chechnya on Wednesday, although this has not been officially confirmed.
Osprey Flight Solutions, a UK-based aviation security company, warned customers that “the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was likely shot down by a Russian military air defense system.” Osprey provides analysis of which carriers are still flying to Russia after Western airlines halted flights in 2017. the war in Ukraine.
Osprey CEO Andrew Nicholson said the company issued more than 200 alerts about drone attacks and air defense systems in Russia during the war.
“This incident is a stark reminder of why we do what we do,” Nicholson wrote online. “It is painful to know that despite our efforts, lives were lost in ways that could have been avoided.”
Russian military expert Yuri Podolyaka was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying the holes seen in the plane wreckage were similar to those left by an “anti-aircraft missile system.” “Everything suggests it,” he writes.
KAMILLA JUMAYEVA/AFP via Getty Images
And Gérard Legauffre, a former expert from BEA, the French air accident investigation agency, also said there appeared to be “numerous pieces of shrapnel” on the wreckage, according to AFP.
He described it as “reminiscent” of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a jet shot down with surface-to-air missile by Russian-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
But asked about claims that the plane was targeted by air defense fire, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “It would be a mistake to make any assumptions before the investigators report their verdict.
Kazakhstan’s parliament speaker Maulen Ashimbayev also warned against jumping to conclusions based on images of fragments of the plane, calling allegations of air defense fire unfounded and “unethical.” .
Other officials in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan also avoided commenting on the possible cause of the accident, saying it would be up to investigators to determine.
National flags were lowered across Azerbaijan on Thursday, traffic across the country stopped at midday and signals were sounded from ships and trains as the country observed a nationwide minute of silence national.
contributed to this report.
