Dozens of people were killed on Wednesday after an Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, according to officials.
Dozens were killed in the incident, which was "likely" caused by Russian air defense systems
Dozens of people were killed on Wednesday after an Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, according to officials.
Although it’s still unclear what exactly occurred, several investigations have been launched into the incident. Here’s what we know so far.
On Wednesday, Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 crashed in Kazakhstan with 67 people on board, including the pilots. Thirty-eight people died after the crash, while 29 survived, according to Kazakh officials.
Azerbaijan Airlines CEO Samir Rzayev said both of the flight’s pilots and one other staffer were killed, according to Azerbaijani news outlet Report. While speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Rzayev said, “Their heroism will never be forgotten.”
“While this tragic accident brought a significant loss to our nation, the crew’s valiant dedication to their duties until the last moment and their prioritization of human life have immortalized their names in history,” he added.
The pilots had more than 15,000 flight hours between the two of them, Rzayev said. and the aircraft successfully passed a technical inspection in October, Rzayev said.
The Embraer (ERJ) 190 was traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, to the Russian city of Grozny when it was diverted and attempted an emergency landing a few miles from Aktau. Footage captured and shared online shows the plane rapidly descending before crashing into the ground, with parts of the fuselage ripping away from the wings.
Forty-two Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs, and three Kyrgyzstan nationals were on the plane.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has named Dec. 26 as a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
On Wednesday, Aliyev said that Prime Minister Ali Asadov would lead a commission investigating the incident, which he called a “great tragedy,” according to a government press release. Aliyev also said a criminal case has been opened by the country’s prosecutor general’s office.
During a press conference, Aliyev said that it was too early to speculate on the reasons behind the crash but said that bad weather had forced the plane to alter its course.
“The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he said.
That lines up with what Rosaviatsia said on Wednesday. Russia’s civil aviation authority said that preliminary information showed that pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an on-board emergency, The Associated Press reported. According to Flightrader24, Grozy had low overcast clouds at the time.
France-based Euronews on Thursday, citing Azerbaijani government sources, reported that Flight 8432 crashed after a Russian surface-to-air missile was fired near it. Shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight, according to the report. After impact, the jet wasn’t allowed to land at any Russian airports and was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea toward Aktau.
Aviation security firm Osprey Flight Solutions had previously found that the flight “was likely shot down by a Russian air defense system,” NBC News reports. The head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, wrote on Telegram that the plane was damaged by a Russian air -defense system, citing visible harm done to the aircraft.
According to Euronews, Russian air defense forces were actively trying to shoot down Ukrainian drones. The head of the Security Council of the Chechen Republic, Khamzat Kadyrov, has said that drones attacked Grozny on Wednesday morning, Euronews reports.
The Kremlin on Thursday warned against making any conclusions before investigations are finalized.
“It would be incorrect to make any hypotheses before the investigation comes to conclusions, and we definitely cannot do it, and no one should do it,” Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, said in his daily press conference.
Azerbaijan Airlines changed its social media banners to solid black as a sign of mourning and suspended flights between Baku and Grozy, as well as trips between Baku and Russia’s Makhachkala until its own investigation ended. Embraer, which made the jet used for Flight 8243, told the Associated Press that it is ready to assist authorities in investigating the incident.
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