Russian air defences 'may have brought down Azerbaijan Airlines plane'

25 December 2024, 07:40 | Updated: 26 December 2024, 14:04

Experts say it's increasingly likely a Russian air defence system brought down an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people.

All the other 29 people on board the aircraft who survived the crash were injured.

The plane was on route from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, and was rerouted due to heavy fog before crashing near Aktau airport in Kazakhstan.

The Kremlin has asked people not to speculate about the cause of the accident before an official investigation wraps up.

But aviation analysts say images from the crash site point to damage from an air defence system, while multiple sources have told the Reuters news agency they're of the same opinion.

Former pilot Terry Tozer told LBC: "It's looking probably 90% sure it was hit by a missile. The close-up shots of the tail section that the people scrambled out of is peppered with holes, it looks very much like shrapnel and that fits completely with (video footage of the crash), this was an aircraft where the crew were quite obviously struggling to control it.

"Close-ups show a lot of their normal landing aids were not being used which backs up the idea of complete hydraulic failure with loss of control so I think the pilots did a pretty remarkable job to get it where they did".

According to Azerbaijan Airlines, the Embraer 190 aircraft crash-landed just two miles from Aktau airport.

Kazaeronavigatsiya - the Kazakhstan air navigation service - said: "An Embraer 190 AHY8243 aircraft travelling on the Baku-Grozny route declared an emergency situation due to collision with a bird and violation of steering control".

“The aircraft was carrying 105 passengers and five crew members.”

A national day of mourning for the victims was held in Azerbaijan on Thursday.