What we know about the Azerbaijan Airlines crash

On December 25, 38 people died when an Azerbaijan Airlines flight, which was supposed to land in Russia, crashed in Kazakhstan.

The circumstances surrounding the crash remain unclear, but limited evidence so far suggests it may have been damaged by missiles fired by a Russian air defense system as it attempted to land in Chechnya.

Here’s what we know about flight J2-8243.

Early on the morning of Christmas Day, flight J2-8243 took off from the airport in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It was to land in Grozny, capital of the Russian region of Chechnya.

There were 67 passengers on board, most of whom were citizens of Azerbaijan, as well as Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The plane was an Embraer 190, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines.

As the flight approached Grozny, it entered thick fog, surviving passengers say.

They describe the pilot attempting to land the plane twice during these conditions.

It was on the third attempt, survivors say, that they felt a series of explosions hit the plane.

“The third time, something exploded… part of the plane’s skin had come off,” one told Russian television.

A flight attendant on the plane, Zulfuqar Asadov, told local media that the impact of the attack “caused panic inside.”

“We tried to calm (the passengers), make them sit down. At that moment there was another blow and I hurt my arm,” he said.

A video filmed in flight by a passenger showed oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling.

Azerbaijan’s Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev said: “All (survivors) without exception stated that they heard three explosions when the plane was over Grozny.”

He said the plane was subjected to “external interference” and suffered damage inside and out as it attempted to land.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has been attacking Chechnya and other parts of the Russian Caucasus with drone strikes.

After the crash, Moscow authorities said such strikes had triggered a protocol to close airspace over Grozny.

According to local officials, that morning a drone was shot down by air defense over a shopping center in Vladikavkaz, in nearby North Ossetia.

It is unclear whether the closed airspace protocol, known as the “carpet plan,” was enacted before or while flight J2-8243 was in Russian airspace.

After the incident over Grozny, the plane diverted about 450 kilometers (280 miles) east toward Aktau airport in Kazakhstan.

It is still unclear why it was diverted to the Caspian Sea – a much longer journey than other options.

Russian aviation authorities claimed that the plane’s pilots were “offered other airports” but chose Aktau.

Data released by flight tracking website Flight Radar shows the plane weaved up and down as it approached Aktau, before turning and making a forced landing a few kilometers from the airport.

Video from close to the scene shows the plane descending rapidly through the air before crashing to the ground and skidding for several hundred meters in a ball of flames.

38 people died and 29 survived, some with serious injuries. Surprisingly, some survivors were seen walking and crawling through the wreckage of the plane.

The pilots of the plane are credited with saving lives by managing to land part of the plane, despite having died in the accident.

It is believed that most of those who survived were sitting in the back.

Initial Russian media reports suggested the plane collided with a flock of birds.

However, aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS systems were affected by electronic interference and then damaged by shrapnel from Russian air defense missile explosions.

On Friday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the United States had “early indications” that Russia was responsible, but declined to comment further.

The Azerbaijani government has so far avoided accusing Russia directly, but Azerbaijani government sources told Reuters news agency that the investigation has already identified the weapon that fired on the flight as the Russian Pantsir-S anti-aircraft system.

The Kremlin has so far refused to comment on reports that the plane was hit by Russian weaponry.

“An investigation is underway… and until conclusions are reached as a result of the investigation, we do not consider ourselves authorized to make any assessment,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The plane’s flight recorders were found, containing data that helps determine the cause of the accident.

Reports in Baku suggest that both Russia and Kazakhstan have proposed that a committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a Russian-dominated regional organization – investigate the accident, but Azerbaijan has instead demanded an international investigation.

Azerbaijan Airlines and several other airlines suspended flights to some Russian cities in response to the crash.