Officers are seeking to resolve what brought about the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day that killed 38 other folks on board, leaving 29 survivors, as speculation mounts that Russia’s military can have had a job within the crisis.
Here’s what we all know thus far:
How did the aircraft crash?
Azerbaijan Airways Flight 8243, an Embraer 190 plane, used to be flying from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to town of Grozny in Russia’s North Caucasus area on Wednesday when it used to be diverted for causes that are not but totally transparent.
It crashed whilst making an attempt to achieve any other airport in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan.
Cellular phone photos seems to turn the plane creating a steep descent earlier than hitting the bottom and exploding in a fireball about two miles from the Aktau airport.
Pictures from the scene display the rear portion of the aircraft’s fuselage nonetheless intact after the crash, mendacity the wrong way up in a box.
ISSA TAZHENBAYEV / AFP by way of Getty Photographs
The airline mentioned 67 other folks have been on board — 62 passengers and 5 group contributors — and 38 other folks died within the crash, however 29 of the ones on board survived.
Investigators have recovered either one of the so-called black packing containers, the flight knowledge and cockpit voice recorders, from the crash website online.
Why did the aircraft exchange route?
There have been conflicting accounts of why the aircraft’s pilots diverted the plane.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, to start with mentioned it seemed the pilots diverted to Aktau after a hen strike. Later, Russian and Azerbaijani officers recommended the aircraft were rerouted because of fog or dangerous climate in Grozny. Then Russia additionally mentioned Ukrainian drones focused on the Grozny space have been an element.
Murat Usubali / Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs
Talking at a information convention Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned that whilst it used to be too quickly to grasp the reason for the crash, dangerous climate had pressured the aircraft to modify from its deliberate route.
“The guidelines equipped to me is that the aircraft modified its route between Baku and Grozny because of worsening climate prerequisites 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 used to be making ready to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones have been focused on town, prompting government to near the world to air site visitors.
Yadrov mentioned that when the captain made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to land, he used to be introduced different airports however determined to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, around the Caspian Sea, as a substitute.
What do officers and aviation mavens say a few imaginable purpose?
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia all opened investigations into the reason for the crash. The Kremlin has suggested people not to jump to conclusions.
In a remark 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 supply any longer main points. It introduced the suspension of flights to a number of Russian airports.
A U.S. reputable instructed CBS Information there have been early indications a Russian anti-aircraft gadget can have struck the aircraft in a area the place Ukrainian and Russian forces have traded drone and rocket hearth for months. The reputable, who spoke at the situation of anonymity, mentioned if that proved to be true, it might additional underscore Russia’s recklessness in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
White Area Nationwide Safety Council spokesman John Kirby mentioned Friday that U.S. officers “have noticed some early indications that will indisputably level to the likelihood that this jet used to be introduced down via Russian air protection methods.”
He showed to newshounds that the U.S. has intelligence or knowledge pointing to the likelihood, however mentioned Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are lately accomplishing the investigation and the U.S. will “appreciate that procedure.”
Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs
In the meantime, impartial aviation mavens solid doubt at the hen strike concept, and a few pointed to break noticed at the aircraft’s fuselage as proof it should have come below hearth.
“It indisputably does now not appear to be a flock of birds,” mentioned CBS Information aviation protection analyst Robert Sumwalt, a former chairman of the Nationwide Transportation Protection Board.
“Birds do not fly at the kind of altitude that the preliminary injury passed off in this aircraft,” added Sumwalt.
Yan Matveyev, an impartial Russian army skilled, famous that photographs of the crashed aircraft’s tail disclose the wear and tear suitable with shrapnel from a small surface-to-air missiles, such because the Pantsyr-S1 air protection gadget.
“It seems like the tail segment of the aircraft used to be broken via some missile fragments,” he mentioned.
Chatting with newshounds on a convention name Dec. 27, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to remark at the claims of imaginable Russian involvement within the crash, pronouncing it might be as much as investigators to resolve the purpose.
Survivors heard noises earlier than crash
Passengers and group who survived the crash instructed Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises at the plane because it used to be circling over Grozny.
Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli mentioned that when one noise, the oxygen mask robotically launched. She mentioned that she went to accomplish first assist on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, after which they heard any other bang.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry Press Provider by way of AP
Asadov mentioned that the noises appeared like one thing hitting the aircraft from outdoor. In a while later on, he sustained a surprising harm, like a “deep wound, the arm used to be lacerated as though any individual hit me within the arm with an ax,” he mentioned. He denied a declare from Kazakh officers that an oxygen canister exploded throughout 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 sanatorium 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 part later the aircraft crashed to the bottom.”
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