Cause of passenger plane crash in Kazakhstan revealed

Azerbaijan Airlines said the cause of the December 26 plane crash in Kazakhstan was "external physical and technical impact."

In a statement after the initial investigation, Azerbaijan Airlines said the crash of flight J2-8243 in Kazakhstan was caused by external physical and technical impact, and took into account potential security risks for the flight, TASS news agency reported on December 27.

The airline’s statement also appears to confirm that the cause of the December 26 tragedy was not an on-board incident. The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 was en route from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia’s Chechnya region, when it crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazahstan. At least 38 people were killed and 29 were rescued.

Scene of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazahstan on December 26

Dmitry Yadrov, director of the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, said that the destination of flight J2-8243, Grozny, was the area where Ukrainian drone attacks were carried out, although it was far from the main front line of the war in Ukraine. Therefore, Yadrov mentioned that Grozny had closed its airspace and there was fog in the city at the time, so the plane was asked to change course, but the pilot tried twice to contact to land in Grozny but failed, and finally decided to fly over the Caspian Sea to Aktau airport, according to CNN.

Reuters on December 26 quoted several sources saying that the plane was shot down by an air defense system. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of “covering up the cause of the accident.” Meanwhile, Moscow stressed that it needed to wait for the conclusion of the investigation and confirmation from local authorities to understand what happened.

Two passengers and a crew member who survived the crash told Reuters on December 27 that they heard a loud bang as the plane was approaching Grozny.

“After the explosion, I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” said passenger Subhonkul Rakhimov. Flight attendant Zulfugar Asadov said that a request to land in Grozny was denied due to fog and the pilot was circling when he heard an explosion from the left wing, as if something had hit it and caused the cabin to depressurize. The flight attendant added that the captain had been asked to land in the water, but he decided to take the plane to Aktau and land on land, warning that the landing could be difficult.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tiet-lo-nguyen-nhan-vu-roi-may-bay-cho-khach-o-kazakhstan-185241227220631297.htm