38 passengers were killed on Wednesday after Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed as it attempted to make an emergency landing near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijani government sources have exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on Wednesday.
According to the sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during drone air activity above Grozny, and the shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight.
Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan.
According to data, the plane’s GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight path above the sea.
The missile was fired from a Pantsir-S air defence system, Baku-based international outlet AnewZ reported, citing Azerbaijani government sources.
According to Russian sources, at the time the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was passing over the territory of Chechnya, Russian air defence forces were actively attempting to shoot down Ukrainian UAVs.
The head of the Security Council of the Chechen Republic, Khamzat Kadyrov, confirmed that a drone attack on Grozny took place on Wednesday morning, noting that there were no casualties or damage.
If this preliminary data is confirmed, this would be the second time in a decade that Russian forces have destroyed a commercial aircraft after the MH17 crash in Ukraine. This time, Russia's own citizens, as well as those from neighbouring countries, are among the casualties.
The crash also evokes an earlier incident from November 2018, when an Air Astana Embraer 190 lost its hydraulics over Portugal but, with the help of the Portuguese Air Force, landed safely.
Further investigation into Wednesday's crash is expected to unveil the circumstances surrounding the missile's firing, the non-authorisation for landing at a nearby airport in Russia, and the instruction to cross the sea with a damaged plane.
nebeatsimenu on December 26th, 2024 at 13:31 UTC »
They did this for the second time, they need to have consequences for this kind of shit. Ffs, russia is like a deranged neighbor for whole Europe and we have to casually deal with the shit they do.
defroach84 on December 26th, 2024 at 13:20 UTC »
The fact that they jammed the radar, refused them an airport to land in, and then told them to fly over the sea, seems like they definitely wanted it to crash into the water so that it would be much easier to cover up.
Instead, they now have all the evidence, and it's out there in the open immediately.
DomesticErrorist22 on December 26th, 2024 at 13:10 UTC »
From the article: