Russian authorities commented on Friday on the crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane. At the time of the crash, Ukrainian combat drones were carrying out attacks. Therefore, for safety reasons, the plane could not land at its destination in Grozny.
“The situation on that day and during those hours in the vicinity of Grozny airport was very complicated,” the head of Russia’s Rosaviatsia Aviation Authority, Dmitry Yadrov, said on Friday. Ukrainian combat drones carried out attacks in the Grozny and Vladikavkaz regions.
According to Jadrow, no takeoffs and landings were allowed in Grozny due to the danger posed by the drones. During the alarm period, all pilots had to leave the airspace. It was the first time an official body made a temporary link between a drone alarm and Wednesday’s crash.
Two failed landing attempts
Jadrow does not want to say whether the plane was damaged by the deployment of a Russian anti-aircraft missile and then crashed in Kazakhstan after a long flight. Azerbaijani government sources had previously reported this. Jadrow said there was thick fog in Grozny at the time and the plane’s pilot made two failed attempts to land. Ultimately, he turned to Kazakhstan.
Here you can see the holes in the plane.
The operating company Azerbaijan Airlines spoke of an unspecified “external influence” that was responsible for the crash. Initial investigations showed the plane was subjected to “extreme physical and technical failures,” it said on Friday (see video above).
Suspected accidental shooting
The Ukrainian government blamed Russia for the crash. There is even mounting evidence of an accidental shooting. This is pointed out by, among others, military bloggers from Russia and Ukraine, but also by the White House, Azerbaijani sources and Austrian army colonel Markus Reisner. It was likely an accidental hit at close range that damaged the plane’s tail, Reisner said. The data has probably been mixed up.
The Azerbaijani plane crashed on Wednesday near the Kazakh city of Aktau on the Caspian Sea coast. 38 people on board died, 29 others survived, some with serious injuries. Photos of the tail section of the accident plane show damage similar to shrapnel impact holes from anti-aircraft guns.
Source: Krone
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