MOSCOW: The Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan this week suffered physical “external interference”, the airline and Azerbaijan’s transport minister said Friday, citing preliminary results of an investigation, adding to speculation it was hit by a Russian air defence system.

The jet crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday, killing 38 of the 67 people on board, after attempting to land at its destination in the Russian city of Grozny and then diverting far off course across the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan Airlines said it had suspended flights to 10 Russian airports, saying preliminary results suggested the crash of Baku-Grozny flight J2-8243 was “due to physical and technical external interference”.

Baku says signs of shrapnel on wreckage indicate plane was ‘hit by air defence systems’; survivors recall hearing explosions

‘Explosions’

Statements from Azerbaijan citing the investigation into the incident suggest Baku believes the plane was hit mid-air.

“Based on the opinion of experts and on the words of eyewitnesses, it can be concluded that there was external interference,” Azerbaijani’s transport minister, Rashad Nabiyev, told reporters.

“It is necessary to find out from what kind of weapon,” he added, citing reports from survivors of hearing “three explosions” as the plane was over Grozny.

Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.

Some aviation and military experts have pointed to signs of shrapnel damage on the plane wreckage as evidence it was hit by air defence systems.

An Azerbaijan pro-government website, Caliber, and several other media have cited unnamed Azerbaijani officials as saying they believed a Russian missile fired from a Pantsir-S1 air defence system caused the crash.

Ukraine’s military intelligence has also claimed this, and Ukraine’s presidency said Russia “must be held responsible for the downing” of the plane.

Russia’s aviation chief said Friday that Grozny was being attacked by Ukrainian drones at the time the plane had tried to land, but the Kremlin has declined to comment on reports the plane was accidentally shot down by Russian air defence missiles.

A Russian survivor, Subkhonkul Rakhimov, told state broadcaster RT that an “explosion” appeared to happen outside the plane as it attempted to land in Grozny in fog, causing shrapnel to penetrate inside.

“I wouldn’t say it was inside the plane because the skin of the fuselage near where I was sitting flew off,” he said.

Two passengers and one crew member on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters that they heard at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.

“After the bang…I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from hospital.

He said he had begun to recite prayers and prepare for the end after hearing the bang.

“It was obvious that the plane had been damaged in some way,” he said. “It was as if it was drunk — not the same plane anymore.”

Another passenger on the plane told Reuters that she also heard a loud bang. “I was very scared,” said Vafa Shabanova, adding that there was also a second bang.

She was then told by a flight attendant to move to the back of the plane.

Both passengers said there appeared to be a problem with the oxygen levels in the cabin after the bang.

Apology urged

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Friday that he had phoned his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, with both pledging that the “causes of the crash would be fully examined”, according to a statement from Baku.

Rasim Musabekov, an Azerbaijani lawmaker and member of the parliament’s international relations committee, urged Russia to apologise for the incident.

He suggested the plane was not allowed to land at Grozny or a nearby Russian airport — instead being “sent far away” across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan — in an attempt to “cover up a crime”.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2024