Amid reports of alleged Russian anti-aircraft involvement behind the Kazakhstan plane crash on December 25, Azerbaijan Airlines said the accident was result of “physical and technical external interference”.
At least 38 people, including two pilots, were killed in the flight crash in Kazakhstan’s Aktau city on Christmas day. A total of 67 people were aboard the Embraer 190 aircraft Flight J2-8243.
Russia on Friday had stated that the flight was diverted from its destination in Chechnya’s Grozny as Ukrainian drones were targeting civilian infrastructure in the city, according to CNN.
Following this, the airspace was shut in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz, forcing the flight to divert.
Earlier, reports claimed that a Russian surface-to-air missile was “accidentally fired” on the flight, resulting in the crash.
However, Moscow has denied the allegations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday said he did not want to give any assessments until the official probe is concluded.
Caliber, a government-linked Azerbaijani website, citing officials, said a missile from a Pantsir-S air defence system hit the flight.
Videos circulated online showed holes in the plane’s nose caused by shrapnel from missiles, according to experts quoted by AFP.
A surviving passenger told Reuters that he heard a loud bang when the flight neared Grozny. “I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” the news agency quoted passenger Subhonkul Rakhimov, as saying.
Vafa Shabanova, another passenger, told the news agency that she also heard two bangs and was “very scared”.