The crash of the “Azerbaijan Airlines” plane in Kazakhstan “does not look like” a collision with birds, as Russia thinks, experts say

On Friday, there were speculations that the Russian military might have had something to do with it The crash of the “Azerbaijan Airlines” plane. which killed 38 people and injured 29 survivors in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, with experts questioning Moscow's proposal that the chirping of birds is to blame.

The Embraer 190, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, was flying from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to the Russian North Caucasus city of Grozny on Wednesday when it was diverted two days later for undisclosed reasons. At some point during the flight, the plane's GPS tracking was reportedly jammed, causing significant deviations in the flight path.

The plane crashed while trying to reach another airport in Aktau in western Kazakhstan after flying east across the Caspian Sea. It crashed and burst into flames only about two miles from Oktau Airport.

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Russia began investigating the cause of the disaster, but two days later, Russia faced the most pressing questions. The Kremlin urged people not to jump to conclusions, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who has forged closer ties between his country and Russia during his two decades in power, also said it was too early to speculate.

“According to the information I received, the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed on approach,” he said, offering the Russian Federation of Russian Aviation. theories.

But a U.S. official told CBS News that there are early indications that an anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane in a region where Ukrainian and Russian forces have exchanged drones and missiles for months. The official, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity, said that if true, it would further highlight Russia's recklessness in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Independent aviation experts also questioned the bird-strike theory and pointed to damage seen on the plane's fuselage as evidence of a more nefarious possible explanation.

“It certainly doesn't look like a flock of birds,” said CBS News aviation security analyst Robert Sumwalt, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

“Birds don't fly at the altitude they were originally damaged on this plane,” Sumwalt added.

Instead, the damage shows signs of shrapnel from an airborne weapon, and British military veteran and security analyst Justin Crump told CBS News affiliate BBC News that “the most likely hypothesis is that he was hit by an anti-aircraft missile — almost certainly a Russian one.” .

Azerbaijan Airlines, in a statement reported by international news agencies on Friday, said the plane experienced “external physical and technical interference” during the flight, without providing further details.

Some survivors of the crash said they heard an explosion before the crash.

“Ukrainian drones were active at the time, and that's consistent with everything we've seen in terms of communication between the pilots and air traffic control,” Crump told the BBC.

Ukraine has relied heavily on explosive drones has been striking Russian military and infrastructure targets in much of the neighboring country's western territory for the past year, and Russia often shoots down weapons with its air defense systems.

For many observers, the circumstances of the crash of “Azerbaijan Airlines” and the damage to the wreckage of the plane reminded the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014. This passenger plane was shot down by a missile fired by Russian-backed forces over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

Survivors of the crash are among those desperate for answers about the latest disaster in Kazakhstan, including one man who said from his hospital bed that he was sitting next to his wife on the plane when it crashed.

“I haven't seen my wife since,” he said.

Investigators found both so-called “black boxes” – flight data and recorders in the cockpit – from the crash site. Experts from Brazil, where the plane was built, were due to arrive in Kazakhstan on Friday to help obtain and analyze information from them.

As an official investigation escalated, Ukraine's government called on Friday to hold Russia accountable for the crash, as Azerbaijan Airlines reportedly suspended regular flights to seven Russian cities.