The Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan on Christmas Day – while en route from Baku to Grozny in Russia – may have been “accidentally shot down” by a Russian surface-to-air missile or antiaircraft fire, military experts said in multiple news reports. This has been cited in the reports. Suggested.
Thirty-eight of the 67 people on board were killed, at least 16 of whom were Russians.
The investigation is ongoing, but aviation experts cited in some foreign media reports, such as the Wall Street Journal, Euronews and news agency AFP, have pointed to holes in the plane’s fuselage and marks on the tail, which are consistent. With damage from shrapnel from missiles.
It was also reported that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was flying over the area where Ukraine drone activity was reported, and over Grozny – Chechnya’s capital and a key target for Kiev as the war with Russia stretches into a third year. – Is heavily defended by anti-aircraft weapons.
Yuri Podolnyaka, a Russian military blogger, told news agency AFP that the holes seen in the plane’s wreckage (photos) were similar to damage caused by an “anti-aircraft missile system”. The damage suggested the plane “may have accidentally collided with an air-defense missile system,” he said.
And Matt Sacks, chief intelligence officer at Osprey Flight Solutions, a United Kingdom-based aviation risk management firm, told the Journal, “The debris and circumstances surrounding airspace security in southwest Russia indicate … the aircraft collided with some type of Was gone.” Anti-aircraft fire.”
Meduza, a Russian media outlet, agreed in its assessment; A report in The Kyiv Independent said that footage of parts of the damaged plane showed impact marks from a surface-to-air missile, and that other civilian and military aircraft shot down by such missiles also had similar signs. types of damage have been observed.
Additionally, there are reports – which NDTV has not been able to verify – that Grozny was attacked by Ukrainian drones a few weeks ago, suggesting that Russian air defense forces stationed there mistook the Azerbaijan Airlines plane for a drone. And the Embraer 190 would have been shot down. Jet.
In fact, some of the survivors (all of whom were seated in the rear) claimed to have heard loud explosions outside the plane shortly after its request to land at Grozny Airport was rejected. .
The UK Telegraph said the explosions were caused by the plane’s oxygen tank bursting in the air.
The aircraft then headed back across the Caspian Sea presumably to return to Kazakhstan, but due to a second (as yet undisclosed) emergency requested to land at Aktau instead. Unfortunately, the plane could not make it that far and crashed in a desolate field about three km from the airport.
Horrific footage online showed it struggling to maintain altitude, sliding and then slamming into the ground, causing the tail and torso to break off. Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the accident was caused by a flock of birds hitting the aircraft, but later withdrew the statement.
Russia condemned the speculation
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “We need to wait for the end of the investigation,” while Kazakh Senate speaker Maulen Ashimbayev was quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying “it is not possible” to say so at this time. What caused the damage? plane.
“Real experts are looking for… they will draw their own conclusions. Neither Kazakhstan, nor Russia, nor Azerbaijan, of course, are interested in hiding information. It will be revealed to the public,” he said.
