On December 25, Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 Embraer 190 carrying 67 people crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing at least 38 people. After a large-scale rescue operation, 29 people were lucky to survive.
Scene of the plane crash in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024
The Guardian Quoting a spokesman for the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan on December 26, experts are working to identify the bodies of those who died in the plane crash. Of the survivors, 11 victims are in intensive care.
According to the schedule, the Embraer 190 flew to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region (southern Russia), but it diverted away from the route through the Caspian Sea. The plane later crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. Video footage of the crash appeared to show the plane falling from the sky and bursting into flames as it hit the ground.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on December 26 that an investigation into the cause of the accident is underway and emphasized that speculative information would be “false” if there is no conclusion from local officials.
Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan Ashimbayev Maulen said on December 26 that the cause has not yet been clarified. “None of these countries – neither Azerbaijan, Russia nor Kazakhstan – want to hide information. All information will be made available to the public,” Mr. Maulen emphasized. The Kazakh official also criticized rumors that the cause of the accident was shot down by Moscow’s air defense system as baseless and “unethical”.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said it was too early to speculate on the reasons behind the accident, and confirmed that bad weather was the reason forcing the plane to change its planned route.
Holes in the fuselage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024
Kazakhstan said the plane’s black box had been found, Interfax reported. Azerbaijan’s AzerTAc news agency said an official delegation including the emergency situation minister, deputy prosecutor general and vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines was sent to Aktau to conduct an on-site investigation.
The statements of Russian, Kazakh and Azerbaijani officials were made in the context of many rumors about the cause of the accident.
Reuters quoted several sources as saying that the plane was shot down by an air defense system. The Fighterbomber Telegram channel also published a clip that appeared to show holes in the wreckage, which many said looked like damage from gunshots. A post on Flightradar24’s X stated: “The aircraft experienced strong GPS interference causing poor ADS-B data transmission.” This has fueled speculation that the flight was affected by a possible drone attack.
