Officers try to find out what brought on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day that killed 38 individuals on board, leaving 29 survivors, as speculation mounts that Russia’s military may have had a task within the catastrophe.
Here’s what we all know to this point:
How did the aircraft crash?
Azerbaijan Airways Flight 8243, an Embraer 190 plane, was flying from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to town of Grozny in Russia’s North Caucasus area on Wednesday when it was diverted for causes that are not but totally clear.
It crashed whereas making an attempt to achieve one other airport in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan.
Cellphone footage seems to indicate the plane making a steep descent earlier than hitting the bottom and exploding in a fireball about two miles from the Aktau airport.
Images from the scene present the rear portion of the aircraft’s fuselage nonetheless intact after the crash, mendacity the other way up in a discipline.
ISSA TAZHENBAYEV / AFP by way of Getty Photos
The airline mentioned 67 individuals had been on board — 62 passengers and 5 crew members — and 38 individuals died within the crash, however 29 of these on board survived.
Investigators have recovered each of the so-called black bins, the flight knowledge and cockpit voice recorders, from the crash web site.
Why did the aircraft change course?
There have been conflicting accounts of why the aircraft’s pilots diverted the plane.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, initially mentioned it appeared the pilots diverted to Aktau after a hen strike. Later, Russian and Azerbaijani officers advised the aircraft had been rerouted resulting from fog or dangerous climate in Grozny. Then Russia additionally mentioned Ukrainian drones concentrating on the Grozny space had been an element.
Murat Usubali / Anadolu by way of Getty Photos
Talking at a information convention Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned that whereas it was too quickly to know the reason for the crash, dangerous climate had pressured the aircraft to vary from its deliberate course.
“The data offered to me is that the aircraft modified its course between Baku and Grozny resulting from worsening climate circumstances and headed to Aktau airport, the place it crashed upon touchdown,” he mentioned.
Dmitry Yadrov, the pinnacle of Rosaviatsia, mentioned Friday that because the aircraft was making ready to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones had been concentrating on town, prompting authorities to shut the world to air site visitors.
Yadrov mentioned that after the captain made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to land, he was provided different airports however determined to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, throughout the Caspian Sea, as a substitute.
What do officers and aviation specialists say a couple of attainable trigger?
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia all opened investigations into the reason for the crash. The Kremlin has urged people not to jump to conclusions.
In a press release on Friday, Dec. 27, Azerbaijan Airways mentioned the aircraft skilled “exterior bodily and technical interference,” however didn’t say the place it believed the interference got here from or present any additional particulars. It introduced the suspension of flights to a number of Russian airports.
A U.S. official instructed CBS Information there have been early indications a Russian anti-aircraft system could have struck the aircraft in a area the place Ukrainian and Russian forces have traded drone and rocket fireplace for months. The official, who spoke on the situation of anonymity, mentioned if that proved to be true, it could additional underscore Russia’s recklessness in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesman John Kirby mentioned Friday that U.S. officers “have seen some early indications that will surely level to the likelihood that this jet was introduced down by Russian air protection techniques.”
He confirmed to reporters that the U.S. has intelligence or data pointing to the likelihood, however mentioned Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are presently conducting the investigation and the U.S. will “respect that course of.”
Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu by way of Getty Photos
In the meantime, impartial aviation specialists forged doubt on the hen strike principle, and a few pointed to break seen on the aircraft’s fuselage as proof it might have come below fireplace.
“It definitely doesn’t appear to be a flock of birds,” mentioned CBS Information aviation security analyst Robert Sumwalt, a former chairman of the Nationwide Transportation Security Board.
“Birds do not fly at the kind of altitude that the preliminary injury occurred on this airplane,” added Sumwalt.
Yan Matveyev, an impartial Russian navy skilled, famous that photographs of the crashed aircraft’s tail reveal the injury suitable with shrapnel from a small surface-to-air missiles, such because the Pantsyr-S1 air protection system.
“It seems just like the tail part of the aircraft was broken by some missile fragments,” he mentioned.
Talking to reporters on a convention name Dec. 27, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to touch upon the claims of attainable Russian involvement within the crash, saying it could be as much as investigators to find out the trigger.
Survivors heard noises earlier than crash
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 mentioned that after one noise, the oxygen masks mechanically launched. She mentioned that she went to carry out first support on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, after which they heard one other bang.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry Press Service by way of AP
Asadov mentioned that the noises seemed like one thing hitting the aircraft from outdoors. Shortly afterward, he sustained a sudden damage, like a “deep wound, the arm was lacerated as if somebody hit me within the arm with an ax,” he mentioned. He denied a declare from Kazakh officers that an oxygen canister exploded contained in the aircraft.
Two different survivors recounted listening to explosions earlier than the aircraft went down: Jerova Salihat instructed Azerbaijani tv in an interview within the hospital that “one thing exploded” close to her leg, and Vafa Shabanova mentioned that “there have been two explosions within the sky, and an hour and a half later the aircraft crashed to the bottom.”
Chris Livesay and
contributed to this report.
