Azerbaijan on Thursday held a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash that killed 38 people and left 29 survivors injured as speculation grew about a possible cause of the disaster, with some experts saying the plane was damaged by Russian air defense. fire.
The Kazakhstan Airlines Embraer 190 was en route from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it diverted for reasons still unclear and crashed while attempting to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan. , after flying east across the Caspian Sea.
The plane went down about 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) from Aktau. Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the plane making a steep descent before crashing to the ground in a fireball. Other images showed part of its fuselage torn from the wings and the rest of the plane lying face down on the grass.
As the official investigation into the crash began, theories abounded about a possible cause, with some experts alleging that holes seen in the tail section of the plane possibly indicate that it could have been attacked by Russian air defense systems fending off an attack from Ukrainian drones.
Ukrainian drones had previously attacked Grozny, the provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, and other regions of the country's North Caucasus. An official in Chechnya said another drone attack in the region was repelled on Wednesday, although federal authorities did not report it.
On Thursday, national flags were lowered across Azerbaijan, traffic across the country stopped at noon and signals sounded from ships and trains as the country observed a nationwide moment of silence.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said it was too early to speculate on the reasons for the crash, but said the weather had forced the plane to change its planned course.
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“The information I have been given is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he said.
Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said preliminary information indicated the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike caused an onboard emergency.
According to Kazakh officials, those traveling on the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian citizens, six Kazakh nationals and three citizens of Kyrgyzstan. Russia's Emergencies Ministry brought nine Russian survivors to Moscow for treatment on Thursday.
Mark Zee of OPSGroup, which monitors the world's airspace and airports for risks, said analysis of images of fragments of the crashed plane indicate it was almost certainly hit by a surface-to-air missile, or SAM. .
“There is much more to investigate, but at a high level we would place the probability that it was a SAM attack on the plane in the range of 90-99%,” he said.
Osprey Flight Solutions, a UK-based aviation security company, warned its clients that “the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was likely shot down by a Russian military air defense system.” Osprey provides an analysis of airlines still flying to Russia after Western airlines suspended flights during the war.
Osprey CEO Andrew Nicholson said the company had issued more than 200 alerts about drone attacks and air defense systems on 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 a way that could have been prevented.”
Caliber, an Azerbaijani news website, claimed that the plane was fired upon by a Russian Pantsyr-S air defense system as it approached Grozny. He questioned why Russian authorities did not close the airport despite the apparent drone attack in the area. Khamzat Kadyrov, head of Chechnya's Security Council, said air defenses shot down drones attacking the region on Wednesday.
Caliber also asked why Russian authorities did not allow the plane to make an emergency landing in Grozny or other nearby Russian airports after being hit.
When asked about claims that the plane had been attacked by air defense means, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “it would be a mistake to formulate hypotheses before investigators give their verdict.”
The speaker of Kazakhstan's parliament, Maulen Ashimbayev, also warned against rushing to conclusions based on images of the plane fragments, describing accusations of air defense fire as unfounded and “unethical.”
Other officials in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have also avoided commenting on a possible cause of the crash, saying it will be up to investigators to determine.
© 2024 The Canadian Press