Azerbaijan has found that ‘external interference’ was responsible for the fatal crash of Flight J2-8432 on Christmas Day amid a preliminary investigation and claims Russia downed the plane with a surface-to-air missile before trying to cover it up.
‘Based on the opinion of experts and on the words of eyewitnesses, it can be concluded that there was external interference,’ Azerbaijani’s transport minister, Rashad Nabiyev, told reporters.
‘It is necessary to find out from what kind of weapon,’ he added, citing reports from survivors of hearing ‘three explosions’ as the plane was over Grozny.
The development in the tragic story of Wednesday’s crash, which killed 38, came as a flight attendant on the stricken plane revealed he sustained a shrapnel wound as explosions outside rocked the doomed flight near Russia.
Crash survivor Zulfugar Asadov gave an extraordinary account of the flight, which crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38.
Mr Asadov – who was convinced he had died in the crash – said that he was ‘cut on the arm by an impact that occurred outside the plane’ after the plane aborted its attempts to land in Grozny, Russia, citing poor weather.
‘I grabbed a towel, bandaged my arm tightly, and [colleague] Aydan [Ragimli] helped me,’ he said. ‘We continued the flight.’
The flight attendant revealed that the pilot had sought to make an emergency landing in the Caspian ‘because the aircraft’s engine was malfunctioning’, but changed his mind and carried on towards Kazakhstan, fearing for the safety of passengers.
Mr Asadov also pushed back on Russian reports that an oxygen cylinder on board had exploded.
‘This is not true,’ he said. ‘If something had happened to the oxygen cylinder, the plane would have been torn apart. The information that a gas cylinder was brought on board is also false.’
He spoke amid chilling accusations that Russia mistakenly targeted the plane with a surface-to-air missile, and then sought to block it from landing on its territory in the expectation it would sink in the Caspian Sea.
Two hero pilots guided the plane across the sea and towards Aktau, Kazakhstan before crash landing, miraculously saving the lives of more than two dozen of the 67 on board.
As Azeri and Kazakh investigators probe the cause of the crash, an Azeri government source told Reuters that while ‘no one claims that it was done on purpose’, Baku ‘expects the Russian side to confess to the shooting down of the Azerbaijani aircraft’.
Zulfugar Asadov, a flight attendant on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, speaks during an interview with Reuters as he receives treatment at a hospital in Baku, Azerbaijan, December 27, 2024
An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer E190AR crashes during an emergency landing in Aktau, western Kazakhstan on 25 December 2024
Shrapnel-like holes seen on the plane from a window before the crash
In a detailed interview with local media, Mr Asadov described how the crew approached Grozny to find the airport ‘covered in very thick fog’.
‘The captain began descending but had to abort the landing and circle around due to poor visibility, hoping the fog would clear.
‘However, the second and third landing attempts also failed.’
The pilot decided to head to the nearest airport, he said.
‘But at that moment, we heard a strange noise coming from outside the plane. I immediately went into the cabin with my female colleague Aydan Ragimli.
‘We saw panic spreading among the passengers.’
‘The pilot had just lifted the plan up when I heard a bang from the left wing. There were three bangs,’ he told Reuters from hospital.
They sought to calm those on board – but then he was wounded by a sudden left arm injury.
‘We reassured the passengers, telling them there was no need to worry, that everything was fine, and asked them to stay in their seats and fasten their seatbelts,’ he said.
‘At that moment, I was cut on the arm by an impact that occurred outside the plane.’
This coincides with passenger accounts that there was an explosion near – but outside – the aircraft.
Two passengers and one crew member on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters that they heard at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.
‘After the bang…I thought the plane was going to fall apart,’ Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from hospital.
He said he had begun to recite prayers and prepare for the end after hearing the bang.
‘It was obvious that the plane had been damaged in some way,’ he said. ‘It was as if it was drunk – not the same plane anymore.’
Another passenger on the plane told Reuters that 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 move to the back of the plane.
Both passengers said there appeared to be a problem with the oxygen levels in the cabin after the bang.
This is the horrific moment a passenger plane hit the ground in a fireball in a Christmas Day crash landing
A Russian Pantsir-S1 self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system
Mr Asadov revealed that the captain Igor Kshnyakin had realised he could not control the plane to land elsewhere, and decided at first on a sea landing in the Caspian.
‘He warned that there would be a hard landing and asked us to be ready and prepare the passengers.’
‘I told Aydan to take her seat, and I returned to mine. After this, the captain decided to change the landing site from water to land.
Captain Kshnyakin decided against the sea landing, fearing it would have torn the plane apart.
‘The captain said that he was advised to land the plane at sea, but he decided to set a course for Aktau and land it on the ground,’ Mr Asadov told Reuters.
‘A hard landing on water would have been disastrous – the plane would have been torn apart because, as far as I know, water at that speed is harder than concrete,’ Mr Asadov explained.
‘The captain changed his decision, and we flew toward land. We and the passengers followed instructions.’
Mr Kshnyakin and co-pilot Aleksandr Kalyaninov both died during the crash landing, along with passengers in the front of the aircraft.
There were 105 passengers and five crew members on board the fight from Azerbaijan capital Baku to Russian city Grozny. Earlier reports had suggested 67 on board
Emergency services are pictured above at the scene of the plane crash
Mr Asadov revealed that the captain Igor Kshnyakin (pictured) had realised he could not control the plane to land elsewhere, and decided at first on a sea landing in the Caspian
Mr Asadov said in no uncertain terms: ‘This tragic situation resulted from an external impact on the plane.’
He said the when the plane crashed in Aktau, he believes the front landing gear touched the ground first.
‘If the plane had touched down with both the front and rear landing gears at the same time, no one would have survived.
‘When the front landing gear touched the ground, the plane broke into two pieces, and the front cockpit was torn off.
‘I remained conscious despite bleeding heavily, but it was very difficult to breathe.’
They managed to open a door and help passengers off the plane, where rescue teams were already waiting.
‘I called them because my hand injury was severe, and I had no strength left.
‘I asked them to help evacuate the surviving passengers. I am grateful for their assistance.’
He was convinced he would not survive.
‘When we hit the ground, I thought we were already dead. The shaking was intense – my whole body was trembling.
‘I didn’t expect to survive. Thanks to Allah, I did. Unfortunately, our crew members and other passengers were not as lucky.
‘We survived thanks to the heroism of our captain and co-pilot.’
‘We survived thanks to the heroism of our captain and co-pilot,’ said Mr Asadov
The footage taken moments before the plane crashed were filmed by a passenger who sent it to his wife
Female flight attendant Aydan Ragimli was with Zulfugar Asadov in the intact tail section.
‘I was giving him first aid,’ she said.
She spoke of a loud sound leading to ‘panic’ among the passengers.
‘We all sat down and put on oxygen masks.’
Asked about shrapnel inside the plane, she said: ‘Yes, but by that time we were already in the back of the plane. Everything happened closer to the front.’
She lost consciousness and said she woke to find she was on the ground in Aktau.
She had remained in touch by phone with another female flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva, 33, until the end, she said.
Aliyeva was killed in the crash.
Most of the passengers on board were Azerbaijani. Sixteen were from Russia, and several from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Those who survived were all seated in the tail portion of the plane, which detached during the crash.
The main wreckage caught fire on impact, killing everyone in the front.
Mr Kshnyakin and co-pilot Aleksandr Kalyaninov (pictured) both died during the crash landing, along with passengers in the front of the aircraft
A man is seen limping away from the scene of the plane crash in Western Kazakhstan
People are seen standing next to the rear of the crashed passenger jet
A Russian journalist exiled in Ukraine, Ivan Yakovina, says there is no no doubt the plane was ‘shot down by Russian air defence’.
But Russia is unable to apologise due to a ‘very creepy, truly cannibalistic aspect to this story, which Moscow is now having serious problems recognising’, he told the Moscow Times.
He claimed: ‘Having realised that instead of a drone, a [Russian] missile hit a plane, that the plane was barely staying in the air, and that when it crashed, there would be a huge scandal, the Russian authorities quickly decided to sink it in the sea – to hide all traces of air defence fire on the plane.
‘I think it was an instinctive action of a psychopathic criminal who kills a random witness of his crime.
‘This logic is called ‘keeping the ends in the water’.
‘That’s why the pilots were forbidden to land at any Russian airport.
‘The plane could not return to Azerbaijan via the Caucasus Mountains – due to hydraulic failure, it could no longer gain altitude, and the cabin was depressurised.’
According to this account ‘the Russians sent the airliner into the sea – literally to certain death.
‘But the pilots ‘let down’ their executioners.
‘They not only made it to Kazakhstan, but also managed to land the plane in such a way that half of the passengers remained alive, and these people can tell how it really happened. If you look into it, it’s a real miracle.’
He alleged: ‘The Kremlin tried to cover up the traces of the crime by sinking the plane and living witnesses in the Caspian Sea. This can no longer be called a tragic mistake.’
The Pantsir-S1 (SA-22), self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system seen displayed under the Russian national flag during the annual Army defense technology exhibition in Kubinka, 2016
Preliminary investigations suggest that a surface-to-air missile was fired at the flight from Naursky as the military engaged Ukrainian drones with air defences, per Azerbaijan government officials.
For its part, Russia has tried to play down speculation, urging patience while the investigation is carried out.
Kazakhstan has said it will now be carrying out an investigation into the crash, suggesting it would cooperate with Azerbaijan but not Russia.
Azerbaijan is also conducting its own investigation.
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