An Azerbaijani airliner crashed into a fireball Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau and the internet is abuzz with theories as to what caused it. A Kazakh official said 67 people were onboard and 38 people died, according to Associated Press. Some details are still emerging about the cause of the crash, but some are speculating that Russia may have shot the plane down.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at a news conference that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, pointing to bad weather as the reason the plane diverted from its original course. "This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people," he said.
The Azerbaijan Airlines plane, an Embraer 190, was traveling from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus before it attempted an emergency landing. AP reported that Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that the plane struck a flock of birds.
DEVELOPING: Plane which crashed in Kazakhstan suffered external damage, according to experts.
The pilots sent a distress call around the time Russian air defense was responding to a Ukrainian drone attack.
Kazakh deputy PM, asked whether the plane was shot down: "I dare not… pic.twitter.com/ZnJyJSmZES
— BNO News (@BNONews) December 25, 2024
However, images and video appearing on social media of the crash depict strange holes on the rear fuselage that some say aren’t consistent with an avian collision. BNO News reported that “The pilots sent a distress call around the time Russian air defense was responding to a Ukrainian drone attack.” When asked whether the plane was shot down, Kazakh deputy prime minister Kanat Bozumbayev said, "I dare not make premature statements."
According to the Wall Street Journal, the plane’s intended destination in southern Russia was in an area where Moscow’s air defenses have recently battled Ukrainian drones. In 2018, international investigators concluded that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down on July 17, 2014 while flying over eastern Ukraine, was hit by a Russian missile.
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