Crashed AZAL plane was shot down by Russian Pantsir-S air defence system
Azerbaijani plane shot down by Russia
An Azerbaijani plane that crashed was riddled with holes after an incident over Russia, Reuters reported.
The agency reports that an Azerbaijani passenger plane, which crashed in December while flying from Russia to Kazakhstan, sustained external damage and its fuselage was shattered, according to a report published on Kazakhstan’s government website on Tuesday. Thirty-eight people died when the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crashed on 25 December near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, after rerouting over the Caspian Sea from southern Russia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated in December that the plane was damaged by accidental ground fire in Russia. Moscow has not confirmed this.
After the crash, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliyev for the “tragic incident” in Russian airspace, but the Kremlin did not acknowledge that Russia had fired on the plane, only noting that a criminal case had been opened.
The preliminary report was released in line with global aviation regulations aimed at learning lessons to prevent future accidents rather than assigning blame or responsibility.
Carefully worded, the report did not specify what caused the extensive damage to the aircraft, including its stabilizers, hydraulics, and trim systems.
However, it included photos showing that the left side of the tail section was punctured with multiple holes. It also displayed fragments described as “foreign metallic objects” recovered from the left stabilizer and hydraulic system.
A senior Azerbaijani government official told Reuters that the external impact mentioned in the report was caused by a Russian surface-to-air missile.
“The Azerbaijani side possesses a fragment of a Pantsir-S missile, which was retrieved from the aircraft and identified through an international examination,” the source said.
This marked the first time a source in Baku’s government claimed to have physical evidence that Russia shot down the Brazilian-made Embraer plane. As of late Tuesday, there had been no comment from Russian officials.
Russia has said it has assigned its most experienced experts to investigate the incident and that steps are being taken to determine the cause and circumstances of the crash.
“Passengers losing consciousness“
The plane was flying from Baku to Grozny in southern Russia, where, according to the Kremlin, Ukrainian drones were attacking several cities at the time.
Twenty-nine people survived the emergency landing in Kazakhstan. Aliyev declared the deceased pilots national heroes. The Azerbaijani leader stated that Russian citizens were to blame and that Baku was demanding justice.
According to the report, the cockpit voice recorder captured the sound of two impacts within 25 seconds at the start of the incident. Two minutes later, the pilot informed air traffic control that he believed the plane had collided with birds.
Five minutes later, he reported that the aircraft was losing control.
Several other airports were considered for an emergency landing before the crew decided to head for Aktau, Kazakhstan, requiring them to fly east across the Caspian Sea.
“So, we have this situation: oxygen is running out in the passenger cabin, which means an oxygen cylinder exploded there, I think,” the pilot reported. “There is also a smell of fuel, some passengers are losing consciousness—grant us permission to descend.”
The aircraft sent out a distress signal as it approached Aktau. It crashed there an hour and 12 minutes after the pilots first reported the issue.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Transport, commenting on the report, stated that the aircraft was fully airworthy but sustained damage due to the impact of “external objects.”
The report highlighted that Russian air traffic controllers only initiated a protocol restricting flights in areas under drone attacks eight minutes after the first strikes.
Azerbaijani plane shot down by Russia
