An Azerbaijani minister prompt Friday that an airliner that crashed this week was hit by a weapon, citing knowledgeable evaluation and survivor testimony indicating that the aircraft was struck from the surface.
The assertion from Rashad Nabiyev raised strain on Russia. Officers in Moscow have mentioned a drone assault was underway within the area that the Azerbaijan Airways flight was destined for however haven’t addressed statements from aviation specialists who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian assault.
The aircraft was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Wednesday when it turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed whereas attempting to land there. The crash killed 38 folks and left all 29 survivors injured.
Nabiyev, Azerbaijan’s minister of digital improvement and transportation, informed Azerbaijani media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” as does witness testimony.
“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” Nabiyev mentioned.
On this picture launched by Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry Press Service, a rescuer search on the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airways’ Embraer 190 laying on the bottom close to the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry Press Service by way of AP)
Passengers and crew who survived the crash informed Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane because it was circling over Grozny.
Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli mentioned that after one noise, the oxygen masks mechanically launched. She mentioned that she went to carry out first support on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, after which they heard one other bang.
Asadov mentioned that the noises gave the impression of one thing hitting the aircraft from exterior. He denied Kazakh officers’ declare that an oxygen canister exploded contained in the aircraft.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, mentioned Friday that because the aircraft was making ready to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones had been concentrating on the town, prompting authorities to shut the realm to air site visitors.
Yadrov mentioned that after the captain made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to land, he was supplied different airports however determined to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, throughout the Caspian Sea.
However he didn’t touch upon statements from some aviation specialists, who identified that holes seen within the aircraft’s tail part prompt that it might have come beneath hearth from Russian air protection programs.
Ukrainian drones have beforehand attacked Grozny and different areas within the nation’s North Caucasus.
Azerbaijan Airways blamed the crash on unspecified “physical and technical interference” and introduced the suspension of flights to a number of Russian airports. It didn’t say the place the interference got here from or present any additional particulars.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to touch upon the claims that the aircraft was hit by Russian air defenses, saying that it will likely be as much as investigators to find out the reason for the crash.
“The air incident is being investigated, and we don’t believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,” Peskov mentioned in a convention name with reporters.
If it’s confirmed that the aircraft crashed after being hit by Russian air defenses, it will be the second lethal civil aviation accident linked to preventing in Ukraine. Malaysia Airways Flight 17 was downed with a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 folks aboard, because it flew over the realm in jap Ukraine managed by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.
Russia has denied duty, however a Dutch courtroom in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russia Ukrainian man for his or her position in downing the aircraft with an air protection system introduced into Ukraine from a Russian navy base.
Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as a part of the probe of Wednesday’s crash, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor Normal’s workplace mentioned in a press release.
The corporate will proceed to function flights to 6 Russian cities, together with Moscow and St. Petersburg. These cities even have been repeatedly focused by Ukrainian drone strikes previously.
Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air additionally introduced Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian metropolis of Yekaterinburg within the Ural Mountains for a month.
FlyDubai additionally halted flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody in southern Russian for the subsequent few days.
The day earlier than, Israel’s El Al service suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow citing “developments in Russia’s airspace.” The airline mentioned it will reassess the scenario subsequent week.
Related Press author Aida Sultanova contributed to this report from London.
Initially Revealed: December 27, 2024 at 11:31 AM EST
