Azerbaijan airline blames ‘external interference’ for plane crash

Azerbaijan Airlines says that the preliminary results of the investigation into the crash of its plane in Kazakhstan on December 25th say “physical interference with foreign technology”.

Thirty-eight people were killed when the Embraer jet came down at high speed, bursting into flames about 3km (1.9 miles) from Aktau Airport.

The plane initially attempted to land at Grozny airport in southern Russia, but witnesses reported an explosion before it was diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan.

The head of Russia’s civil aviation authority said on Friday that the situation in the Chechen city was “extremely difficult” and that a plan to close the airspace had been put in place.

“Ukrainian drones are launching attacks on civilian security in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz,” said Dmitry Yadrov, head of Rosaviatsia, in a video statement sent to the Russian news agency Tass.

“Because of this “Carpet plan” was introduced in the area of ​​Grozny airport, which enables all flights to leave the designated areas,” he said. “In addition, there was heavy fog in the area of ​​Grozny airport.”

Azerbaijan Airlines has not provided details of the physical and technical interference, and the Baku government has refrained from criticizing Russia, perhaps to avoid offending President Vladimir Putin.

However, aviation experts and pro-government journalists in Azerbaijan believe the plane was destroyed by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.

“These are fragments of a missile that damaged the hydraulic system. The flight controls work using hydraulics,” former Azerbaijani pilot Tahir Agaguliev told the BBC.

Flight attendant Zulfuqar Asadov, who was among the 29 people who survived the crash, told local media that the plane was “hit by something foreign”.

“His touch sent shockwaves inside. We tried to get them to sit down. At that moment, there was another hit, and my arm was injured.”

In a social media post, Azerbaijan Airlines said it was suspending flights to seven Russian cities because of the crash “for safety reasons”.

It has already suspended flights to Grozny and Makhachkala in neighboring Dagestan, but has now added the cities of Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara and Mineralnye Vody.

Israel’s leading airline, El Al, has suspended all flights to Moscow, citing the situation in Russia.

The spokesman of the president of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said that Russia should be blamed for the accident.

The Kremlin has refused to comment on reports that an Azerbaijan Airlines flight was shot down by Russian air defenses.

“The investigation into what happened on the plane is ongoing and until the facts are confirmed as a result of the investigation, we do not consider ourselves competent to investigate,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

In Azerbaijan, there are memorial services for the pilots, who are said to have saved lives by landing on the other side of the plane, although they were killed in the crash.

Kazakh authorities have been assisting the injured and working with Azerbaijan on the investigation. However, they refused to give details about their investigation into the accident.

Reports in Baku indicate that Russia and Kazakhstan want a commission from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a body controlled by Russia – to investigate the accident, but Azerbaijan instead wanted an international investigation instead. in relation to former Soviet countries.