By Gleb Stolyarov and Nailia Bagirova
BAKU (Reuters) -Two passengers and one crew member of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters they heard at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.
Flight J2-8243 crashed in a fireball near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday after veering from an area in southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defense systems against Ukrainian attack drones. At least 38 people were killed, while 29 survived.
“After the bang… I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from the hospital.
He said he started saying prayers and preparing for the end after hearing the bang.
“It was clear the plane was damaged in some way,” he said. “It was like being drunk – not the same plane anymore.”
Another passenger on the plane told Reuters she also heard a loud bang.
“I was very scared,” said Vafa Shabanova, adding that there was also a second bang.
She was then told by a flight attendant to go to the back of the plane.
Both passengers said there appeared to be a problem with the oxygen level in the cabin after the explosion.
Stewardess Zulfugar Asadov said the landing in Grozny was denied due to fog, so the pilot circled and a bang sounded outside the plane.
“The pilot had just lifted the plane when I heard a bang from the left wing. There were three bangs,” he said.
Something rammed into his left arm. The cabin lost pressure.
In addition to the horror of the crash, the passengers’ first-person accounts provide insight into the possible cause of the disaster.
Azerbaijan Airlines suspended a large number of flights to Russian cities on Friday, saying it believed the crash was caused by what it called “physical and technical interference from outside”. What that interference was was not described in detail.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of the Azerbaijani investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defenses had accidentally shot down the disaster.
Russia has said it is important to wait until the official investigation has completed its work to understand what happened.
CRASH LANDING
The Embraer passenger plane had flown from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya region, before departing hundreds of kilometers across the Caspian Sea.
“The captain said he was advised to land the plane at sea, but he decided to head for Aktau and land it on the ground,” said handler Asadov.
“He warned that a hard landing would occur and asked us to be ready and prepare the passengers.”
The plane crashed across the Caspian Sea after what Russia’s aviation watchdog said was an emergency possibly caused by a bird strike.
Images taken by passengers on the plane before it crashed showed oxygen masks and people wearing life jackets. Later images showed bloodied and bruised passengers climbing out of the plane.
After the commotion surrounding the emergency landing, there was silence before the moaning of the injured started, Rakhimov said.
The crash has underscored the risks to civil aviation even when planes fly hundreds of miles from a war zone, especially when a major drone war is underway.
Previous disasters include the 2020 shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, killing all 176 people on board.
In 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian BUK missile system, with the loss of 298 passengers and crew.
In 1983, the Soviet Union shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 after it veered off course and flew through restricted airspace. In 1988, during the Iran-Iraq War, the US warship Vincennes shot down an Iran Air flight over the Gulf, killing all 290 people on board.
DRONE WAR
The Azerbaijan Airlines plane ran into trouble near Grozny, which is more than 850 km (530 miles) from the front lines in Ukraine but remains a repeated target for Ukrainian drones that have struck far behind Russian lines.
Russia is using advanced electronic jamming equipment to confuse Ukrainian drone location and communications systems and a host of air defense systems to shoot down the drones.
Since Russia sent thousands of troops to Ukraine in 2022, airlines have bypassed Ukraine and closed major airports in southwestern Russia.
“We’re in a conflict in that area, and that’s not going to change,” said Andrew Nicholson, CEO of Osprey Flight Solutions.
“As soon as you put civilian aircraft into that same airspace, you greatly increase the risk, especially when a drone attack is underway and air defense activities are underway, as was the case in this scenario.”
Russia’s aviation watchdog said on Friday that the plane had decided to reroute from its original destination in Chechnya, amid dense fog and a local warning due to Ukrainian drones.
Rosaviatsia said the captain had been offered other airports to land at, but had chosen Aktau in Kazakhstan. It said it would provide comprehensive support to Kazakh and Azerbaijani investigations into the crash.
Asked about reports that Russian air defenses had accidentally shot down the plane, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday he had nothing to add and did not want to make any assessment until the official investigation had drawn conclusions.
