Subkhon Rakhimov, one of the passengers who survived the tragic Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash near Kazakhstan’s Aktau on December 25 documented the suspected shrapnel damage to the aircraft in a fresh video.
The video, which has now been circulated on social media, shows the effect of the crash on the plane’s body as well as tiny holes in its wings.
He had also shared a video earlier praying moments before the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash as passengers panicked with loud engine sounds in the background, right before the craft plummeted.
On Wednesday, the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190, travelling from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, a city in Russia’s North Caucasus, was diverted for unknown reasons.
The aircraft then crashed while attempting to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after flying eastward across the Caspian Sea. The crash led to the death of 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured, reported AP.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, during a press conference, attributed the plane crash to dense fog, which forced the plane to divert from its planned course. However, he added that no confirmed cause for the crash has been determined yet.
Also Read: Azerbaijani plane crash: What might have caused Kazakhstan mishap? Initial probe reveals
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said preliminary information indicated the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike.
Aviation experts told AP that the holes seen in the plane’s tail wing section could point to that firing from a Russian air defence system fending off a Ukrainian drone attack. The video shared by Rakhmiov also shows tiny holes across the wings and tail section.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “it would be wrong to make hypotheses before investigators make their verdict,” with regards to theories of Russian defence system firing.
The parliamentary speaker of Kazakhstan, Maulen Ashimbayev, echoed this opinion, telling AP that it would be unethical to draw conclusions based on pictures of the plane’s fragments.