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Members of the rescue services at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines airliner near the town of Aktau, western Kazakhstan, on December 25, 2024. ISSA TAZHENBAYEV / AFP The day after the fatal crash in Kazakhstan of an Azerbaijan Airlines airliner bound for Russia, many questions remain unanswered, Thursday December 26. Here’s what we know so far. Read also | The crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan, near the city of Aktau, leaves at least 38 dead Read later • Deviated trajectory The plane was flying on Wednesday morning between Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and Grozny, capital of the Russian Caucasian republic of Chechnya. But it crashed on the other side of the Caspian Sea, near the port of the city of Aktau in western Kazakhstan, located far east of its original destination. The former director of the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) Jean-Paul Troadec estimated that the trajectory followed by the plane was “a big unknown” in the case. The Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia announced on Wednesday that “due to an emergency situation on board the plane, its commander decided to “go” to another airfield – Aktau was chosen “. The specialized site Flightradar24, which follows the flights, specified that the device had suffered “significant GPS interference” during its flight. The plane “stopped sending positioning data” for a while then sent “probably false” data, before the situation returned to normal, according to the site. The device’s black box was found on Wednesday. The Ministry of the Interior of Kazakhstan announced the opening of an investigation into “violation of air transport safety and operational rules”, while the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan also launched an investigation. “All possible scenarios are being examined, and the necessary assessments are underway,” he declared, specifying that Azerbaijani investigators had visited the site. • Only 27 of the 67 passengers survived The plane was carrying 67 passengers, including 62 customers and five crew members. According to the Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry, 38 people were killed and “29 survivors, including three children, were hospitalized.” Among them, there were 37 Azerbaijani nationals, six Kazakh nationals, three Kyrgyz citizens and 16 Russian citizens on board the plane, according to the Kazakh transport ministry. The bodies of four victims were repatriated to Azerbaijan on Thursday, according to Azerbaijan Airlines, with the return of fourteen injured also expected in the evening. Nine injured Russians, including a child, were brought back to their country, according to the Russian authorities. The father of a slain flight attendant, Hokoumé Alieva, told Agence France-Presse that this was to be his daughter’s last flight before she changed careers. Read also | The crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan, near the city of Aktau, leaves at least 38 dead Read later • The origin of the crash still unknown For the moment, the origin of the crash remains unknown. Azerbaijan Airlines initially claimed on Wednesday that the plane had struck a flock of birds, before reversing this assertion. For its part, the regional department of the Kazakh Ministry of Health reported a “balloon explosion” on board the aircraft, without further details. But according to international media, Azerbaijani authorities and experts believe that a Russian missile caused the crash. Le Monde Mémorable Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Discover The plane linked Azerbaijan to the Russian republic of Chechnya, where Ukrainian drone attacks had been reported these past recent weeks. On Wednesday, Russian authorities reported drone strikes in two neighboring regions of Chechnya, North Ossetia and Ingushetia, hundreds of kilometers from the Ukrainian front line. International channel Euronews, citing Azerbaijani government sources on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the crash. The missile was reportedly fired during “drone aerial activity over Grozny,” where the plane was scheduled to land, the media added. Caliber, a pro-government Azerbaijani website, also said it was likely a Pantsir-S air defense system missile, again citing unnamed government sources. US newspaper The New York Times published similar reports, as did Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency, which claimed the plane’s communications system had been crippled by electronic jamming used by Russia. • Moscow and Astana refute “speculations” implicating Russian air defense The first information points to the responsibility of a Russian anti-aircraft defense system, an American official also told AFP on Thursday, on condition of anonymity. . Commenting on visible impacts on the wreckage of the Embraer 190 aircraft, military and aviation experts also said it may have been accidentally shot down by a Russian air defense system during its approach to the airport. destination. “The traces that we see on the plane still suggest that it is quite probable” that it was shot down by a missile, Jean-Paul Troadec also declared to AFP. A former BEA expert, on condition of anonymity, also cited to AFP as evidence “the testimony of a passenger who received shrapnel in his life jacket”. This drama “is reminiscent of MH17”, he said, referring to the in-flight explosion above Ukraine in 2014 of this Malaysia Airlines plane leaving from Amsterdam, blamed by Dutch justice on the shooting of a Russian missile, which left 298 dead. On Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “it would be inappropriate to make assumptions before the conclusions of the investigation.” The authorities of Kazakhstan, a close ally of Russia, also denounced “speculation”. At a press conference Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said it was too early to “speculate”, reporting that it was weather conditions that forced the plane to change its trajectory. The summary | Article reserved for our subscribers Disappearance of flight MH370: what do we know ten years later? Read later Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content
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Publish date : 2024-12-27 19:03:53
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