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A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan Dec 25, 2024. (Photo: Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via REUTERS)
ASTANA: Azerbaijani and United States officials believe a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the deadly crash of an Azerbaijani passenger jet, media reports and a US official said on Thursday (Dec 26), as the Kremlin cautioned against "hypotheses" over the disaster.
The Azerbaijan Airlines jet crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub, on Wednesday after going off course for undetermined reasons.
An emergency specialist with a dog works at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, December 26, 2024. Kazakhstan Emergencies Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya, southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course across the Caspian Sea.
An investigation is underway, with pro-government Azerbaijani website Caliber citing unnamed officials as saying they believed a Russian missile fired from a Pantsir-S air defence system downed the plane.
The claim was also reported by The New York Times, broadcaster Euronews and the Turkish news agency Anadolu.
The head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in St. Petersburg Vagif Mamishev lays flowers at the Consulate of Azerbaijan in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in memory of victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 that crashed near the Kazakhstan's airport of Aktau. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Some aviation and military experts said the plane might have been accidentally shot by Russian air defence systems because it was flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported.
A former expert at France's BEA air accident investigation agency said there appeared to be "a lot of shrapnel" damage on the wreckage.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the damage was "reminiscent" of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was downed with a surface-to-air missile by Russia-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "It would be wrong to make any hypotheses before the investigation's conclusions."
SHRAPNEL STRIKES REPORTED
Euronews cited Azerbaijani government sources as saying that "shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight".
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said early indications suggested a Russian anti-aircraft system struck the plane.
Kazakhstan news agency Kazinform cited a regional prosecutor as saying that two black-box flight recorders had been recovered.
Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds, before withdrawing the statement.
Kazakh officials said 38 people had been killed and there were 29 survivors, including three children.
Jalil Aliyev, the father of flight attendant Hokume Aliyeva, told AFP that this was supposed to have been her last flight before starting a job as a lawyer for the airline.
"Why did her young life have to end so tragically?" the man said in a trembling voice before hanging up the phone.
Eleven of the injured are in intensive care, the Kazakh health ministry said.
Workers carry a coffin with a body of a victim from a medical plane after the Azerbaijani Airline crashed, near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, upon their arrival at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo)
A view shows damages in the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer passenger plane that crashed near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024 in this screengrab from a video obtained from social media. Social Media/via REUTERS
DAY OF MOURNING
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of mourning and cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations.
"I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash ... and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," Aliyev said in a social media post on Wednesday.
The Flight Radar website showed the plane deviating from its normal route, crossing the Caspian Sea and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the sea.
Kazakhstan said the plane was carrying 37 Azerbaijani passengers, six Kazakhs, three Kyrgyz and 16 Russians.
Wounded passengers of the Azerbaijani Airline's plane crashed near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, are transported from a medical plane at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo)
BLOODIED SURVIVORS
A Kazakh woman told the local branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) she was near where the plane crashed and rushed to the site to help survivors.
"They were covered in blood. They were crying. They were calling for help," said the woman, who gave her name as Elmira.
She said they saved some teenagers.
"I'll never forget their look, full of pain and despair," said Elmira. "A girl pleaded: 'Save my mother, my mother is back there'."
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Aliyev and "expressed his condolences in connection with the crash", Peskov told a news conference.
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