Credit score: X / @yarotrof
An Azerbaijan Airways airplane crash on Christmas Day has prompted hypothesis the airplane was shot down by Russia after it took a detour of a whole lot of miles within the incorrect course and crash-landed with holes within the fuselage.
Russian navy bloggers have steered the airplane, which crashed close to the Kazakhstan metropolis of Aktau, might have been mistaken for a Ukrainian drone.
The incident, which killed at the least 38 individuals and injured an extra 29, occurred after a big detour, which might have been attributable to GPS jamming.
The Embraer 190 plane made an emergency touchdown 3km from the Aktau, an oil and fuel hub on the jap shore of the Caspian Sea, on Wednesday.
It was flying from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya within the north Caucasus.
Credit score: @clashreport/X
Footage of the crash, circling on-line, confirmed the airplane making a steep descent earlier than smashing into the bottom in a fireball.
Different footage confirmed a part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the remainder of the plane mendacity the other way up within the grass.
Russian navy bloggers and a few aviation analysts have steered holes within the fuselage of the craft could have been attributable to shrapnel from an anti-aircraft missile.
The crew on the plane reported a collision within the air earlier than the airplane started its emergency touchdown, which the Russian aviation authorities initially suspected to have been attributable to a flock of birds.
Nevertheless, it was later revealed that one of many airplane’s oxygen tanks had exploded, prompting hypothesis that the collision was truly an encounter with Russian air defences.
Vladimir Putin’s forces have militarised the realm the airplane was flying over, on a detour that had not been deliberate by the airline.
The airplane was trying to land at a Russian airport in Grozny, which on the time of touchdown was underneath assault by Ukrainian drones.
Baza, a Telegram channel with hyperlinks to the Russian safety companies, mentioned “the holes seem like these left after a shelling or explosion with placing parts”.
Rybar, an influential Telegram channel with 1.3 million subscribers, additionally confirmed Baza’s description, saying the injury to the fuselage resembles “placing parts of an anti-aircraft missile”.
Credit score: @clashreport/X
He continued: “The airplane itself was heading to Grozny – at the moment, a raid by launched Ukrainian UAVs was truly being repelled over the area. A number of drones had been shot down over Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia and neighboring Ingushetia.”
Following the crash, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, mentioned he was returning house from Russia the place he had been as a result of attend a summit on Wednesday, Russia’s RIA information company reported.
One of many airplane’s oxygen tanks had exploded – Azamat Sarsenbayev
Mr Putin expressed his deep sympathies to Mr Aliyev following the crash, mentioned Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman.
“Sadly, Azerbaijan’s president Aliyev was compelled to depart St Petersburg. Putin has already referred to as him and expressed his condolences in reference to the crash of the Azerbaijani airplane in Aktau,” Mr Peskov mentioned.
“We deeply sympathise with those that misplaced their relations and buddies on this airplane crash and want a speedy restoration to all those that managed to outlive,” he added.
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