The Azerbaijan Airlines flight ended up hundreds of miles away from its intended destination with the plane crash resulting in dozens of deaths and many unanswered questions
Chilling details continue to emerge following the crash of doomed Azerbaijan Airlines where at least 38 people died.
Footage of the disaster showed the 190 aircraft bursting into flames as it landed in a field near Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday morning local time, hundreds of miles off its original route. The flight took off from Baku in Azerbaijan and was due to land in Grozy, in Russia’s southern Chechnya region.
Clips shared on social media platform Telegram appeared to show numerous holes in the plane’s wreckage. Speculation ran rife online with some claiming the damage appeared to have been caused by shelling or an explosion with shrapnel.
While Russian state-controlled media has sought to play down the incident, claiming the most likely cause of was due to a strike caused by a flock of birds. But Ukraine’s head of The National Security and Defence Council’s Centre for Countering Disinformation shared a different hypothesis.
Taking to X/Twitter on Christmas Day, Andriy Kovalenko said: “This morning, an Embraer 190 aircraft of an Azerbaijani airline, flying from Baku to Grozny, was shot down by a Russian air defence system. However, admitting this is inconvenient for everyone, so efforts will be made to cover it up, even the holes in the remaining parts of the aircraft.
“There is also video footage from inside the plane during the flight, showing punctured life vests and other damage. Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny but failed to do so. The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of being urgently landed in Grozny to save lives.”
Serik Mukhtybayev, a Kazakh aviation expert, told the Orda news outlet that it was “nearly impossible” that a bird strike would have caused the deadly crash. He claimed the altitude of the plane when it encountered trouble pointed to an impact from outside the aircraft as the probable cause.
Phone footage taken by passengers showed they appeared to be aware that the plane was going down. Oxygen masks were seen hanging above the seats and men could be seen standing in the aisle.
The same clip showed part of the plane’s interior hanging off and a deflated yellow life jacket was seen thrown over another chair. The footage ended with debris everywhere after what appeared to be a crash landing.
One man was seen trying to escape through an open broken window, while others appeared to be pinned to their seats. The plane crashed shortly afterward.
It is understood that seven of the survivors, which includes two girls aged 11 and 16, are said to be in a critical condition. The flight is believed to have carried 62 passengers at the time of the disaster.
