A passenger on the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday recounted hearing a loud bang as the plane approached its original destination of Grozny, in southern Russia.
Flight J2-8243 burst into flames near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after being diverted from an area of southern Russia, where Moscow has repeatedly deployed air defense systems against Ukrainian drones.
“I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from the hospital. He began reciting prayers and preparing for the worst after hearing the bang.
The crash claimed the lives of at least 38 people, while 29 survived. Russian authorities emphasized the importance of awaiting the official investigation to understand the incident fully.
Preliminary findings from Azerbaijan’s investigation, as told by four informed sources, suggest that Russian air defenses might have mistakenly shot down the aircraft.
Following the incident, Azerbaijan Airlines suspended several flights to Russian cities on Friday, attributing the crash to “physical and technical external interference.”
Rakhimov described the plane’s erratic behavior after the loud bang, stating, “It was as if it was drunk – not the same plane anymore.”
The Embraer passenger jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya region before veering off course across the Caspian Sea. It ultimately crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea after what Russia’s aviation watchdog suggested might have been an emergency caused by a bird strike.
Rakhimov recalled a haunting silence following the crash landing, interrupted only by the moans of the injured.
When questioned about reports of the aircraft being mistakenly shot down by Russian air defenses, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment, awaiting the official investigation’s conclusions.
Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation watchdog, mentioned that the plane’s captain had been offered alternative airports to land at but opted for Kazakhstan’s Aktau. The agency assured comprehensive support to both Kazakh and Azerbaijani investigations into the crash.