An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane carrying 67 people crashed in the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday (local time) killing at least 38 people on board.
Videos detailing the crash and its aftermath began to circulate online, with many speculating the plane had been downed by Russian air defence systems.
Here’s what we know so far.
How did the Azerbaijan plane crash?
A part of Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan. (AP: Administration of Mangystau Region )
Flight J2-8243, an Embraer passenger plane, had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya region, before veering off hundreds of kilometres across the Caspian Sea.
It crashed while trying to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea.
It went down near the coast about 3 kilometres from Aktau.
Aviation experts have said the Azerbaijani Airlines plane most likely went down after being hit by Russian air defence systems.
Smartphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before hitting the ground and exploding in a fireball.
Rescuers rushed 29 survivors to hospitals.
What do experts say was the possible cause?
In this photo the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan. (AP: The Administration of Mangystau Region )
Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities have said they are investigating the crash.
Commercial jet manufacturer, Embraer said in a statement that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information indicated the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.
While officials remained tight-lipped, an Azerbaijani MP, Rasim Musabekov, directly pointed the finger at Russia.
Mr Musabekov told the Azerbaijani news agency Turan that the plane was fired upon in the skies over Grozny and urged Russia to offer an official apology.
Some aviation experts have said the holes seen in the plane’s tail section after the crash indicate that it could have come under fire from Russian air defence systems fending off a Ukrainian drone attack.
First responders are on the scene of the crash. (AP: Azamat Sarsenbayev)
Mark Zee of OPSGroup, which monitors the world’s airspace and airports for risks, said that the analysis of the fragments of the crashed plane indicated a 90-99 per cent probability that it was hit by a surface-to-air missile.
Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation security firm based in the United Kingdom, warned its clients that the “Azerbaijan Airlines flight was likely shot down by a Russian military air-defence system.”
Osprey CEO Andrew Nicholson said that the company had issued more than 200 alerts regarding drone attacks and air defence systems in Russia since the full-scale war in Ukraine began in February 2022.
In an online post, FlightRadar24 said that the aircraft had faced “strong GPS jamming” that interfered with flight tracking data allowing to monitor planes’ flight path.
Russia has extensively used sophisticated jamming equipment to fend off drone attacks.
What has been Russia’s response?
Emergency specialists work at the crash site. (Reuters: Kazakhstan Emergencies Ministry)
The Kremlin said prior to reports that the aircraft had been downed by Russian defence systems that it would be improper to comment until the inquiry was concluded.
“It is wrong to build hypotheses before the conclusions of the investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Officials in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have similarly avoided comment on a possible cause of the crash, saying it will be up to investigators to determine it.
Yan Matveyev, an independent Russian military expert, noted that the images of the crashed plane’s tail show damage compatible with shrapnel from the Russian Pantsyr-S1 air defence system.
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It’s unclear why the pilots decided to fly hundreds of kilometres east across the Caspian Sea instead of trying to land in Russia after the plane was hit, he said.
He added that they probably faced restrictions on landing at a closer venue and may have thought that the damage was not critical.
In Azerbaijan, Caliber online newspaper also claimed that the airliner was fired upon by a Russian Pantsyr-S air defence system and also had its systems affected by jamming equipment as it was approaching Grozny.
The paper questioned why Russian authorities failed to close the airport despite the drone attack in the area on Wednesday, and why they didn’t allow the plane to land in Grozny or other Russian airports nearby after it was hit.
How did Azerbaijan react?
Azerbaijan’s national flag at half-mast in the memory of victims of the flight , is seen in the center of Baku, Azerbaijan.
(AP: Aziz Karimov)
Azerbaijan observed a nationwide day of mourning on Thursday.
National flags were at half-mast, traffic across the country stopped at noon, and sirens were sounded from ships and trains.
At a news conference on Wednesday (local time), Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry flew nine Russian survivors to Moscow for treatment.
AP