BAKU: An Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday (Dec 25) was downed by a Russian air defence system, four sources in Azerbaijan with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters.
An Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, after diverting from an area of Russia in which Moscow has used air defence systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent months.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of kilometres off its scheduled route from Azerbaijan’s Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s Chechnya, to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea, after what Russia’s aviation watchdog said was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike.
Officials did not immediately explain why it had crossed the sea, but the crash came after Ukrainian drone strikes this month hit the Chechnya region of southern Russia. The nearest Russian airport on the plane’s flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.
Russian, Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani officials have all called for investigations into the crash.
The Kremlin earlier on Thursday cautioned against “hypotheses” over the crash.
“It would be wrong to make any hypotheses before the investigation’s conclusions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“A LOT OF SHRAPNEL”
Russian military expert Yury Podolyaka said holes seen in the wreckage of the plane were similar to the damage caused by an “anti-aircraft missile system”.
“Everything points to that,” he wrote.
A former expert at France’s BEA air accident investigation agency, also said there appeared to be “a lot of shrapnel” damage on the wreckage.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the damage was “reminiscent” of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was downed with a surface-to-air missile by Russia-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
But Kazakh Senate speaker Maulen Ashimbayev condemned “speculation” about what happened.
He said it was “not possible” to say what may have damaged the plane, he was quoted by Russian news agency TASS as saying.
Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds before withdrawing the statement.
