Azerbaijan had a day of mourning this Thursday (26) for the dozens of victims of the plane crash in Kazakhstan, while questions increase about the cause of the plane crash.
The reasons why Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 crashed are still unknown. The Reuters news agency said on Thursday that the plane was shot down by a Russian air defense system, citing several unnamed sources in Azerbaijan with knowledge of the investigation.
Authorities from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, three countries linked to the case, asked that there be no speculation about the case until investigations are completed.
The plane was traveling from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny, in the Russian republic of Chechnya, before attempting to make an emergency landing approximately three kilometers from Aktau, Kazakhstan, the carrier said on Wednesday.
Russian state media said the plane changed route due to heavy fog in Grozny. Authorities did not immediately explain why the plane crossed the Caspian Sea.
Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said 29 survivors, including two children, had been pulled from the wreckage.
Azerbaijan’s state news agency AZERTAC reported that 12 survivors will be transported back to Azerbaijan this Thursday, five of whom are in a “serious but stable condition.”
These five people will be transported back by a special aircraft from the country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, according to AZERTAC.
Images show holes in the plane
Videos and images of the plane after the crash show holes in the fuselage that appear similar to damage caused by shrapnel or debris. The cause of these holes has not been confirmed.
Azerbaijan Airlines initially told AZERTAC that the crash was caused by the aircraft colliding with a flock of birds, the outlet reported. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, also commented that the plane crashed after colliding with birds.
However, Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Combating Disinformation, part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, disputed this, claiming on social media that the plane was “shot down by a Russian air defense system.”
The crash came shortly after Ukrainian drone strikes hit southern Russia. Drone activity has closed airports in the area in the past, and the closest Russian airport in the plane’s flight path was closed Wednesday morning.
“Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny, but it didn’t,” said Kovalenko, speculating that authorities will try to cover up the real reason for the crash, including the holes in the plane, as it would be “inconvenient” to blame Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed on Thursday that it would be wrong to speculate about the cause of the plane crash before an investigation was carried out, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.
Maulen Ashimbayev, president of the Kazakh Senate, stated that “the nature of this damage and the causes of the disaster are currently unknown”.
A commission was set up to investigate the accident, involving representatives from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia, Ashimbayev said.
Kanat Bozumbayev, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, stressed that “not even the preliminary cause can be determined yet, as experts are needed for this.”
“They will conduct the work, and then it will be clear,” Bozumbayev noted on Thursday.
*Darya Tarasova, from CNN, contributed to this report
This content was originally published in Plane crash in Kazakhstan: Speculations about causes grow; understand on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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