The cause of the crash of the passenger plane in Kazakhstan remains unknown. Azerbaijani Airlines and the Russian Air Transport Agency announced that their data indicate that the pilot made the decision to make an emergency landing after a collision with a flock of birds. For his part, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that according to his information, the plane changed its route due to bad weather.
The Embraer 190 plane took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku this morning on its way to Grozny in Chechnya. However, the machine could not land in Grozny and therefore headed to another airport, Aliyev also reported, quoted by ARD. It remains unclear, however, why the plane deviated so far from its course - hundreds of kilometers. The crash site is Aktau, on the other side of the Caspian Sea. There are many photos and videos of the crash on social media, as well as numerous versions of the cause.
The most realistic scenario: external interference
According to aviation expert Heinrich Grossbongart, it is unlikely that the incident was caused by fog or a flock of birds. “The realistic scenario is external interference”, he emphasizes. “The plane was badly damaged, it was not controllable. This cannot be caused by a flock of birds - in that case the engines would fail, but the plane would remain controllable.”
Russian military bloggers do not rule out the possibility that the plane fell over the North Caucasus in areas where a battle against Ukrainian drones was taking place that morning. Flight tracking app Flightradar 24 said the crashed plane had serious GPS navigation problems and was not transmitting high enough data to track its movements. Russia has been accused of deliberately jamming GPS signals in the region. The plane had limited control over the last 74 minutes of its flight over the Caspian Sea, ARD reported.
The investigation
A government commission has been set up in Kazakhstan to investigate the crash. It will also look into available evidence of possible violations of air safety regulations. The plane's manufacturer, Embraer, has assured investigators that it will provide full support. The plane's black box has been found. Azerbaijani airlines have suspended flights between Baku and Grozny, as well as between Baku and Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan.
38 killed, 29 survived
According to the Kazakh government, 38 people died in the crash. There were 67 passengers and a five-member crew on board. 29 of the passengers survived, some of them were seriously injured and taken to hospital. Most of the passengers were of Azerbaijani nationality - 42, 16 were Russian, six were Kazakh, and three were Kyrgyz. Of the survivors, 14 are Azerbaijani, ten are Russian and two are from Kyrgyzstan.
The nose and central part of the plane are destroyed
Since the plane crashed near Aktau airport on the Caspian Sea, social media is full of videos of the plane crash. They show the plane plummeting before crashing and bursting into flames. It can also be seen that the rear part is less damaged. According to media reports, the rescued passengers were from this part of the plane. However, the nose and central part were destroyed. Other footage shows a plane whose fuselage has been torn off from the wings and the rest of the plane. There are also clips showing survivors trying to pull other passengers out of the wreckage, ARD also points out.