An Azerbaijani minister advised Friday that an airliner that crashed this week was hit by a weapon, citing professional evaluation and survivor testimony indicating that the aircraft was struck from the surface.
The assertion from Rashad Nabiyev raised strain on Russia. Officers in Moscow have stated a drone assault was underway within the area that the Azerbaijan Airways flight was destined for however haven’t addressed statements from aviation consultants who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian assault.
The aircraft was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Wednesday when it turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed whereas attempting to land there. The crash killed 38 individuals and left all 29 survivors injured.
Nabiyev, Azerbaijan’s minister of digital growth and transportation, instructed Azerbaijani media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” as does witness testimony.
“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” Nabiyev stated.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash instructed Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane because it was circling over Grozny.
Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli stated that after one noise, the oxygen masks routinely launched. She stated that she went to carry out first assist on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, after which they heard one other bang.
Asadov stated that the noises seemed like one thing hitting the aircraft from outdoors. He denied Kazakh officers’ declare that an oxygen canister exploded contained in the aircraft.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, stated Friday that because the aircraft was making ready to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones have been focusing on town, prompting authorities to shut the realm to air visitors.
Yadrov stated that after the captain made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to land, he was supplied different airports however determined to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, throughout the Caspian Sea.
However he didn’t touch upon statements from some aviation consultants, who identified that holes seen within the aircraft’s tail part advised that it might have come beneath fireplace from Russian air protection programs.
Ukrainian drones have beforehand attacked Grozny and different areas within the nation’s North Caucasus.
Azerbaijan Airways blamed the crash on unspecified “physical and technical interference” and introduced the suspension of flights to a number of Russian airports. It didn’t say the place the interference got here from or present any additional particulars.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to touch upon the claims that the aircraft was hit by Russian air defenses, saying that will probably be as much as investigators to find out the reason for the crash.
“The air incident is being investigated, and we don’t believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,” Peskov stated in a convention name with reporters.
If it’s confirmed that the aircraft crashed after being hit by Russian air defenses, it might be the second lethal civil aviation accident linked to preventing in Ukraine. Malaysia Airways Flight 17 was downed with a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 individuals aboard, because it flew over the realm in jap Ukraine managed by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.
Russia has denied accountability, however a Dutch court docket in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russia Ukrainian man for his or her position in downing the aircraft with an air protection system introduced into Ukraine from a Russian army base.
Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as a part of the probe of Wednesday’s crash, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor Common’s workplace stated in an announcement.
The corporate will proceed to function flights to 6 Russian cities, together with Moscow and St. Petersburg. These cities even have been repeatedly focused by Ukrainian drone strikes previously.
Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air additionally introduced Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian metropolis of Yekaterinburg within the Ural Mountains for a month.
FlyDubai additionally halted flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody in southern Russian for the following few days.
The day earlier than, Israel’s El Al service suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow citing “developments in Russia’s airspace.” The airline stated it might reassess the scenario subsequent week.