Azerbaijan is observing a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the air crash that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured as speculation mounted about a possible cause of the crash
The Christmas Day crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane near Aktau, Kazakhstan, has raised alarming questions. Was it a tragic accident or a fatal error by Russian air defences? With 38 lives lost and evidence pointing to shrapnel damage,
Some commentators alleged that the holes seen in the plane’s tail section pictured after the crash possibly indicate that it could have come under fire from Russian air defence systems fending off a Ukrainian drone attack.
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Christmas Day has prompted speculation the plane was shot down by Russia after it took a detour of hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and crash-landed with holes in the fuselage.
A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia with 67 people on board crashed in Kazakhstan Wednesday, authorities said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and victims of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243," NATO spokesperson ... after diverting from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks. Sign up here.
Flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Azerbaijan to Russia to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea,
Several passenger plane crashes have occurred worldwide this year, including a Wednesday morning Azerbaijan Airlines wreck that has left dozens feared dead.
The Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed near Kazakhstan's Aqtau on Christmas Day - while en route from Baku to Grozny in Russia - may have been "accidentally struck" by a Russian surface-to-air missile or antiaircraft fire.
Various footage from cell phones shows the Embraer 190 passenger jet plummeting into the ground, killing 38 people in a fiery explosion just outside of Aktau, and the moments after as emergency crews flocked to the scene of the carnage.
An investigation is under way into the cause of the crash that killed 38 of 67 people on board the Embraer 190 aircraft.