There are early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing dozens, a U.S. official told ABC News.
There is new evidence that the passenger plane may have been shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile from a Pantsir-S1 system, a high-level Azeri government source told ABC News.
If Russia did indeed strike the Azerbaijan plane, the U.S. official said it would be yet another example of Russia’s recklessness in the war with Ukraine. The plane was flying over an area where Moscow’s air defense has battled Ukrainian drones recently.
The White House referred ABC News to officials in the region as the investigation continues.
At least 38 people are dead and 29 others injured after the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan’s Aktau Airport on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations told ABC News.
The 29 injured passengers were initially taken to the Regional Hospital in Aktau, where six people remained hospitalized as of Thursday, the hospital said. The others were transferred to their respective countries for further treatment.
The aircraft was flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia when it crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan, the spokesperson said. The flight had been rerouted to Aktau due to fog in Grozny, Russian news agencies reported.
The prosecutor general’s office of Azerbaijan has launched a criminal case regarding the facts of the crash, officials announced during a press briefing on Wednesday.
“Currently, the investigation process is ongoing in cooperation with the prosecutor’s office of Kazakhstan. All versions are being explored in the criminal case,” Farid Huseynov, a spokesperson for Azerbaijan Airlines, said.
Aviation authorities from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia are collaborating to determine the exact cause of the crash, a spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s ministry of emergency situations said.
The plane was carrying 69 people: 64 passengers and five crew members. Based on preliminary data, the passengers included 37 Azerbaijani citizens, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia, Kazakh officials said.
Embraer, the aircraft manufacturer, released a statement about the crash, saying, “We are closely monitoring the situation, and we remain fully committed to supporting the relevant authorities.”