The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crash in Kazakhstan was "probably" caused by Russian anti-aircraft fire, reports The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, based on information from Ukrainian authorities, Russian military bloggers and aviation experts.
A video taken after the crash shows a dozen holes in the tail of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane. The plane crashed on Christmas Day in Aktau in Kazakhstan, on the Caspian Sea. On board were 62 passengers and five crew members. The crash killed 38 people.
According to Russian military bloggers, the damage to the Embraer 190 corresponds to the impact of anti-aircraft guns. Osprey Flight Solutions, a company that provides safety information for airlines, also suspects that the plane was shot down, reports The Wall Street Journal.
"Video images of the wreckage and airspace security conditions in southwest Russia indicate that it is possible that the plane was hit by some form of anti-aircraft artillery," Osprey Flight Solutions said.
Hit by anti-aircraft artillery
A day of mourning has been declared in Azerbaijan on Thursday. The bodies of the fallen passengers and crew members will be transferred to the country, reads a joint statement by the airline and Azerbaijan's Ministry of Emergency Situations on X.
According to Kazakh news site Tengrinews, the injured include Russians, Azerbaijanis and Kyrgyzstanis. Nine injured Russian passengers, including a child, have been picked up by a special plane to be treated in Moscow, Russian state news agency Tass said. Their condition is said to be serious.
Four sources in Azerbaijan with knowledge of the investigation also confirmed that the passenger plane was brought down by Russian anti-aircraft fire to Reuters news agency.
The flight was en route from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Chechnya in Russia, but reportedly diverted hundreds of kilometres due to bad weather before crashing. According to the Russian aviation regulator, it was an emergency after colliding with a bird.
'Investigation underway'
In the meantime, Russia warned against speculation that the plane may have been shot down. "An investigation is currently underway. Every incident in aviation must be investigated by specialised aviation authorities," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency Tass. "It would be wrong to hypothesise before the conclusions of the investigation are available."
The unusual damage on the exterior of the plane led to speculation that it was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, but Kazakhstan Senate President Maulen Asimbaev dismissed this as an unsubstantiated allegation.
In Ukraine, for example, as well as among the Russian opposition abroad, it was suggested that anti-aircraft missiles had fired on planes during a response to a Ukrainian drone attack. The investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.
Update: This article was updated at 17:00 to include the latest reporting by Reuters.
