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38 people died in a plane crash in Aktau, Kazakhstan on Christmas Day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized for the plane crash in Azerbaijan. Putin told the President of Azerbaijan that he was sorry that the accident happened in his airspace.
Kremlin (Russian President’s Office) said-
The Azerbaijani plane reached Grozny on time. He tried repeatedly to land at the airport. At the same time, Ukrainian drones were carrying out strikes in the airspace of Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz. The Russian air defense system was stopping them. Therefore, it should be stopped from saying that the plane was targeted by the Russian air defense system.
The Kremlin said that the plane then turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed near the city of Aktau at 12:30 pm on December 25. 38 people died in this accident and 29 people were saved. The plane had reached Grozny from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
However, the Kremlin did not say that the plane crashed due to firing from its own air defense system. According to news agency AP, some survivors of the plane crash also said that when the plane was in Grozny, they had heard loud noises.
The Azerbaijani plane crashed on December 25 near the city of Aktau.
Aviation expert had expressed doubt on Russian air defense system A US official and an Azerbaijani minister issued separate statements on December 27 blaming ‘external interference’ as the cause of the crash. White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Friday reiterated aviation experts’ assessment that Russian defense systems responding to Ukrainian attacks were the cause of the crash. The special thing is that neither Kirby nor the Minister of Azerbaijan directly blamed the Russian Air Defense in their statements.
Aviation experts had seen shrapnel marks on the plane in several videos viral on social media. Azerbaijan Airlines also said on Friday that there was no fault inside the plane, but the accident occurred due to some ‘external’ reason.
After the crash the plane was broken into two pieces. Many holes were seen in a piece of the plane.
Why was Russia accused of crashing the plane? Russian military blogger Yuri Podolnyaka told news agency AFP that the holes seen in the plane’s wreckage could have been caused by an anti-aircraft missile system. He said the damage suggests the plane may have accidentally hit an air defense missile system.
Defense expert James J Marlow wrote on social media that he had received information that Russian defense systems were intercepting Ukrainian drones in Grozny when this incident occurred. If this is true then it is possible that the defense system might have considered the plane to be a drone and attacked it by mistake.
Russia accused of jamming the plane’s GPS
Flightradar24, a website that provides information related to plane tracking, made a different claim about the plane. The website reported that his GPS had jammed before the accident. Flightradar has also shared a graph related to the plane. The GPS jamming of the plane is also being linked to Russia. In fact, Russia has already been accused of failing GPS transmission.
The passenger who survived the accident said – it seemed as if the plane was drunk
Reuters has spoken to two passengers and a crew member who were on the plane at the time of the accident. Subhonkul Rakhimov, a passenger, said-
It seemed as if the plane was drunk. He was performing acrobatics in the air. After some time, there was a huge explosion in the plane, after which we felt as if it would break into pieces. As soon as we heard the explosion, we started praying and preparing for our last moments.
Another passenger Wafa Shabanova said- I was very scared. There were two explosions in the plane. After this the flight attendant asked us to go back. After the blast, there was a problem in the oxygen level of the cabin.
Earlier theories regarding plane crash
Theories…
1. Oxygen cylinder burst due to bird collision: According to media reports, when the plane collided with a bird, its oxygen cylinder exploded, causing the plane to crash. However, even then questions were being raised about these theories. Actually, in the footage related to this, fire was seen in the plane only after the crash. Before that no fire or smoke was visible.
2. Technical failure: Kazakhstan officials had said that they are also investigating the crash from the angle of some technical faults.
Know about the crashed plane Embraer 190
The Embraer 190 is a twin jet engine aircraft. It is used for regional air connectivity i.e. it is used for short distances. This narrow body aircraft was launched in 2004. Its commercial flights started in the next year i.e. 2005.
According to different seating arrangements, 90 to 98 people including passengers and crew members can travel in it. This aircraft is single-aisle i.e. it has seats on both sides and a gallery in the middle. The Embraer 190 jet is equipped with two turbofan engines, due to which it can cover a distance of as long as 4000 KM.
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