(Image source from: AFP)
Multiple news reports suggest that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on Christmas Day near Aktau, Kazakhstan, en route from Baku to Grozny, Russia, may have been accidentally hit by a Russian surface-to-air or anti-aircraft missile. Military experts mentioned and suggested it in the news. Of the 67 people on board, 38 people died: 62 passengers and 5 crew members. Among the 29 survivors were two girls aged 11 and 16. The investigation is ongoing, but aviation experts quoted by some foreign media, including the Wall Street Journal, Euronews and AFP news agency, say there are holes in the plane's fuselage and markings on the tail that are consistent. Damage from rocket fragments. A crash report to Azerbaijani planes have also flown into areas where Ukrainian drone activity has been reported, including Grozny, the capital of Chechnya and a key target for Kiev as the country's war with Russia enters its third year due to anti-aircraft weapons.
Russian military blogger Yuri Podlyaka told AFP that the holes in the rubble resembled damage caused by an "anti-aircraft missile system." The damage suggests the plane may have been “accidentally hit by an anti-aircraft missile system,” he said. And Matt Bulley, chief information officer at Osprey Flight Solutions, a U.K.-based aviation risk management company, told the Journal: "The situation surrounding the wreck and the safety of airspace in southwest Russia indicate that this aircraft... Russian media Medusa with.” This assessment is correct. According to a report published in the Kyiv Independent newspaper, images of the damaged parts of the aircraft show signs of being hit by a surface-to-air missile, and similar damage was also observed on other civilian and military aircraft shot down by similar missiles. In addition, there were reports that Grozny was attacked by Ukrainian drones a few weeks ago, although NDTV could not prove this. The Russian Air Defense Forces stationed there mistook Azerbaijani aircraft for captured drones, suggesting that they may have been involved in combat with a Type 190 aircraft. In fact, some of the survivors (all of whom were in the back seats) stated that they died immediately after their rejection During the application to land at Grozny airport, he heard a loud explosion outside the plane.
According to the British Telegraph newspaper, as a result of the explosions, the plane's oxygen tanks exploded in the air. The plane then turned back over the Caspian Sea, probably back to Kazakhstan, but a second emergency (still unknown, but due to a hydraulic problem) prompted them to request a landing at Akhtau. Unfortunately, the plane did not make it there and crashed into a field three kilometers from the airport. Horrifying internet footage shows it struggling to maintain altitude before plummeting to the ground, ripping off its tail and torso. Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the crash was caused by a flock of birds, but later retracted that claim. The aircraft's black box has been recovered and flight data and audio recordings are being examined as part of the investigation.
"We have to wait for the investigation to be completed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP. Meanwhile, Russian news agency TASS quoted Kazakh Senate spokesman Maulan Ashimbayev as saying it was "impossible" at the moment to say the plane might have been damaged. “Find real experts...they make their decisions. Of course, neither Kazakhstan, nor Russia, nor Azerbaijan were interested in hiding information. It will be made public,” he said.
