38 people were killed when an Azerbaijani plane crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan. Newly published photos now suggest serious suspicions about the cause of the accident…
The plane was en route from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny, but shortly before reaching the Russian mainland it disappeared from radar.
Official explanation: bird strike
Video footage shows the almost uncontrollable plane from Azerbaijan crashing from a low altitude on the Caspian Sea coast without reaching the nearby airport in the city of Aktau. Officially it was initially said that the passenger plane was probably damaged by a flock of birds, but newly published photos have experts doubting this explanation.
Shortly after the crash, in which 29 people miraculously survived, Russian bloggers speculated that the plane could have been hit by Russian air defenses. Photos now published show the machine’s elevator and rudder with holes.
Expert: “Suggests external influence”
Aviation expert Jakob Wert told ‘Bild’ that this could indicate an ‘external influence’: ‘The marks we see on the tail of the crashed Azerbaijani plane are not simply caused by a crash.’
Videos from inside the machine show the oxygen masks falling out of the compartments, indicating a sudden loss of pressure in the cabin – for example due to holes in the outer shell. In addition, the plane is said to have ended up above the North Caucasus in zones where Ukrainian drones were being fought by the Russians on Wednesday morning.
German girl among the wounded
According to Azerbaijan Airlines, there were 62 passengers and five crew members on board the plane. In the evening, the Kazakh agency Tengrinews published a complete passenger list, which also included the nationality of almost all passengers. All personal data was missing from one woman; an eleven-year-old girl was listed as having German citizenship. According to the regional administration, the eleven-year-old was injured. Fourteen survivors had citizenship of Azerbaijan, ten of Russia and two of Kyrgyzstan.
Authorities in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have opened an investigation into the accident. The Office of the Attorney General of Azerbaijan said a team of investigators had been sent to Kazakhstan. The Kazakh Interior Ministry said the investigation included allegations of “violations of safety regulations” in air traffic.
Source: Krone
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