An Azerbaijani minister mentioned Friday that professional evaluation and survivor testimony recommend the airliner that crashed this week was hit by an exterior weapon, whereas the highest Russian aviation chief mentioned {that a} Ukrainian drone assault was ongoing within the area that the passenger airplane was destined for.
The assertion from Azerbaijan’s Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev raised strain on Russia. Officials in Moscow have mentioned a drone assault was underway within the area that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was destined for however haven’t addressed statements from aviation consultants who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian assault.
The airplane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, on Wednesday when it turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed whereas attempting to land there. The crash killed 38 individuals and left all 29 survivors injured.
Nabiyev informed Azerbaijani media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” as does witness testimony.
“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” Nabiyev mentioned.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash informed Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane because it was circling over Grozny.
Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli mentioned that after one noise, the oxygen masks routinely launched. She mentioned that she went to carry out first assist on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, after which they heard one other bang.
Asadov mentioned that the noises seemed like one thing hitting the airplane from exterior. He denied Kazakh officers’ declare that an oxygen canister exploded contained in the airplane.
‘Ukrainian drones have been focusing on Grozny as Azerbaijani airliner crashed’
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, mentioned Friday that because the airplane was getting ready to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones have been focusing on town, prompting authorities to shut the realm to air site visitors.
Yadrov mentioned that after the captain made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to land, he was supplied different airports however determined to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, throughout the Caspian Sea.
But he did not touch upon statements from some aviation consultants, who identified that holes seen within the airplane’s tail part urged that it might have come below fireplace from Russian air protection methods.
Ukrainian drones have beforehand attacked Grozny and different areas within the nation’s North Caucasus.
Azerbaijan Airlines blamed the crash on unspecified “physical and technical interference” and introduced the suspension of flights to a number of Russian airports. It did not say the place the interference got here from or present any additional particulars.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to touch upon the claims that the airplane was hit by Russian air defenses, saying that it is going to be as much as investigators to find out the reason for the crash.
“The air incident is being investigated, and we don’t believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,” Peskov mentioned in a convention name with reporters.
If it is confirmed that the airplane crashed after being hit by Russian air defenses, it will be the second lethal civil aviation accident linked to preventing in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed with a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 individuals aboard, because it flew over the realm in jap Ukraine managed by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.
Russia has denied duty, however a Dutch courtroom in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russia Ukrainian man for his or her function in downing the airplane with an air protection system introduced into Ukraine from a Russian army base.
Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as a part of the probe of Wednesday’s crash, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s workplace mentioned in a press release.
Following Wednesday’s suspension of flights from Baku to Grozy and Makhachkala, Azerbaijan Airlines introduced Friday that it will additionally halt service to eight extra Russian cities.
The firm will proceed to function flights to 6 Russian cities, together with Moscow and St. Petersburg. Those cities even have been repeatedly focused by Ukrainian drone strikes up to now.
Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air additionally introduced Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian metropolis of Yekaterinburg within the Ural Mountains for a month.
FlyDubai additionally halted flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody in southern Russia for the following few days.
Authorities in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have been tight-lipped a few attainable trigger pending an official probe. But a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament, Rasim Musabekov, informed the Azerbaijani news company Turan on Thursday that the airplane was fired on whereas within the skies over Grozny and urged Russia to supply an official apology.
Source: www.dailysabah.com