An Azerbaijani minister suggested Friday that a plane that crashed this week had been hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor testimony that suggested the plane was hit from the outside.
Rashad Nabiyev’s statement increased pressure on Russia. Officials in Moscow said a drone strike was underway in the region where the Azerbaijani airline flight was destined, but did not address statements from aviation experts who attributed the crash to Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian attack.
The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic, on Wednesday when it turned toward Kazakhstan and crashed while attempting to land. The crash killed 38 people and injured all 29 survivors.
Nabiyev, Azerbaijan’s minister of digital development and transport, told Azerbaijani media that “preliminary conclusions from experts indicate external impacts,” as do witness statements.
“The type of weapon used in the collision will be determined during the investigation,” Nabiyev said.
Passengers and crew members who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media they heard loud noises inside the plane as it circled over Grozny.
Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli said the oxygen masks released automatically after a noise. She said she went to give first aid to a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, and then they heard another bang.
Asadov said the noises sounded like something hitting the plane from outside. He disputed Kazakh officials’ claim that an oxygen canister exploded on the plane.
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Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia, said on Friday that Ukrainian drones targeted the city as the plane prepared to land in Grozny in thick fog, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.
Yadrov said that after the captain made two unsuccessful attempts to land, he was offered other airports but decided to fly across the Caspian Sea to Aktau in Kazakhstan.
However, he did not comment on statements from some aviation experts who suggested that holes in the tail section of the plane suggested it may have come under fire from Russian air defense systems.
Ukrainian drones have already attacked Grozny and other areas in the country’s North Caucasus.
Azerbaijan Airlines blamed the crash on unspecified “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports. It didn’t say where the malfunction came from, nor were any other details provided.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on claims that the plane was hit by Russian anti-aircraft missiles, saying it was up to investigators to determine the cause of the crash.
“The air incident is being investigated and we do not believe that we have the right to make assessments until the conclusions are available as a result of the investigation,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
If it turns out that the plane crashed after being hit by Russian anti-aircraft missiles, it would be the second fatal civil aviation accident linked to fighting in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile in 2014, killing all 298 people on board, as it flew over territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
Russia denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russian Ukrainian for their roles in shooting down the plane carrying an air defense system that had been brought to Ukraine from a Russian military base.
Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as part of the investigation into Wednesday’s crash, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.
After suspending flights from Baku to Grozy and Makhachkala on Wednesday, Azerbaijan Airlines announced on Friday that it would also suspend flights to eight other Russian cities.
The company will continue to offer flights to six Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. These cities have also been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks in the past.
Kazakh airline Qazaq Air also announced on Friday that it would suspend its flights from Astana to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains for a month.
FlyDubai also suspended flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody in southern Russia for the next few days.
The day before, Israeli airline El Al had suspended its flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow, citing “developments in Russian airspace.” The airline said it would reassess the situation next week.
&Copy 2024 The Canadian Press
