Kazakh investigation into Aktau plane crash concludes ‘external objects’ caused disaster

An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 that crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on 25 December, killing 38 passengers, was struck by “external objects” according to a preliminary report on the incident released by Kazakhstan’s Transport Ministry on Tuesday.

While stressing that the findings were not yet conclusive, the ministry said that its initial investigation had found damage to various parts of the plane consistent with those typically seen in missile strikes.

The plane was struck twice in quick succession at 5:13am UTC while travelling from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in the Russian North Caucasus on 25 December as it was about to land.

One Russian aviation expert told Novaya Europe that the aircraft had been “shot down by an anti-aircraft missile judging by the rectangular holes,” and that the report only confirmed that the aircraft had been shot down by Russian air defence systems.

The report did not directly blame Russia or its air defence systems, though on Tuesday Reuters cited a source in the Azerbaijani government saying that a Russian Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile had struck the plane.

After initially telling air traffic control that the plane had hit some birds and an oxygen cylinder had exploded in the cabin, the crew told air traffic control in Grozny that it was losing control of the aircraft. The crew first made contact with Aktau at 6:02am UTC and issued its first international distress signal. It crashed at 6:27am UTC, killing 38 of the 67 passengers on board.

Oleksandr Lanetskyi, director of civil aviation consultancy Friendly Avia Support, told Novaya Europe that the crew may have chosen to fly on to Aktau as repairing foreign aircraft in Russia was difficult due to sanctions, adding that he was 95% sure the plane had been shot down.

Vladimir Putin apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart immediately after the incident, though stopped short of admitting that Russian air defences had shot down the plane.