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Azerbaijan believes Russian missile caused plane crash in Kazakhstan, media report
Azerbaijani authorities believe, according to national media, as does a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity, that the Russian air defense system caused the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, which killed 38 people.None of the countries involved has so far publicly confirmed this version, and Russia earlier warned against “hypotheses” made before the end of the investigation. The authorities of Kazakhstan, a close ally of Russia, also denounced “speculation”. This Embraer 190 aircraft with 67 people on board was flying on Wednesday between Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, and Grozny, capital of the Russian Caucasian republic of Chechnya. It crashed under still unclear circumstances and caught fire near Aktau, a port on the Caspian Sea located in the west from Kazakhstan and far from its normal route, killing 38 people, according to authorities in the Central Asian country. Azerbaijan believes a Russian surface-to-air missile, fired from a Pantsir-S air defense system near Grozny, caused the plane to go down, said Caliber, a pro-government Azerbaijani site, citing officials from that country on condition of anonymity. The American newspaper The New York Times, the Euronews channel as well as the official Turkish news agency Anadolu, published similar information. The first information emanating from the crash points to the responsibility of a Russian air defense system, said an American official on condition of anonymity on Thursday. The aircraft was due to land in Chechnya, where Ukrainian drone attacks had been reported in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Russian authorities reported drone strikes in two neighboring regions of Chechnya, Ossetia. of the North and Ingushetia, hundreds of kilometers from the Ukrainian front line. – Holes on the fuselage – The track of a Russian missile had been mentioned by military and aviation experts, who cited in particular the visible holes on the fuselage of the plane. “The traces that we see on the plane still suggest that it is quite probable” that it was shot down by a missile, Jean-Paul Troadec told AFP. , former director of the Bureau of investigations and analyzes for civil aviation security (BEA). A Russian blogger and military expert, Yuri Podoliaka, assured on Telegram that these traces were similar to those which could be caused by “a missile system “A former expert from the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) declared to AFP that he had “still mentioned the” testimony of a passenger who allegedly received shrapnel in his life jacket”. According to this expert, who testified anonymously, this “reminds one of MH17”, evoking the in-flight explosion over Ukraine in 2014 of this Malaysia Airlines plane that left of Amsterdam, attributed by Dutch justice to the firing of a Russian missile. The crash left 298 dead. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said Thursday that “it would be inappropriate to make assumptions before the conclusions of the investigation.” The president of the Kazakh Senate, upper house of Parliament of Kazakhstan, Maoulen Ashimbaev, assured that it was “not possible” to say for the moment the cause of this disaster. Azerbaijan Airlines initially affirmed that the plane had struck a flock of birds, before removing this information. This version was also mentioned on Wednesday by the Russian civil aviation agency (Rosaviatsia). Experts nevertheless cast doubt on this hypothesis. Bird strikes on the structure, “it does not prevent the plane from flying”, estimated the former BEA expert. Kazakhstan’s transport minister Marat Karabaïev spoke on Thursday of “the explosion of a balloon” on board. An investigation was opened in this country of Central Asia for “violation of air transport safety and operational rules”.Two black boxes were found, according to a Kazakh regional prosecutor quoted by the Kazinform news agency.- “Tragic” -According to the Kazakh ministry of Emergency Situations, “29 survivors, including three children, were hospitalized.” On board the aircraft were 37 Azerbaijanis, six Kazakhs, three Kyrgyz and 16 Russians, according to the Kazakh Ministry of Transport. Jalil Aliev, father of a flight attendant, Hokoumé Alieva, killed in the crash, told AFP by telephone that it should have been her last flight before she changed “Why did his young life end so tragically?” he said, his voice trembling. Fourteen of the survivors are expected Thursday in Azerbaijan, where a day of national mourning was declared Thursday by President Ilham Aliev. Nine injured Russians, including a child, were brought back to Moscow, according to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his “condolences” to his Azerbaijani counterpart, according to the Kremlin.bur-led-las/ib
