AIRPLANE CRASH: Rocket fragments and bullet holes! Baku assumes Russians shot it down! I LIVE Like Azerbaijan, the USA has not ruled out a missed shot by Russian air defenses as the cause of the crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane in Kazakhstan. According to a US government official, initial indications point to a shot down, reported by CNN and ABC News, among others. If initial indications are confirmed, it is conceivable that poorly trained Russian units confused the target when defending against Ukrainian drones, the official said. In the crash near the Kazakh city of Aktau on the Caspian Sea on Wednesday, 38 of the 67 people on board were killed. 29 people survived, many of them seriously injured. The Embraer 190 aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines was actually supposed to fly from the capital Baku to Grozny in the Russian republic of Chechnya. In several regions in the North Caucasus, Russian air defenses were deployed that morning because of drones from Ukraine. Military bloggers from Russia, as well as Ukrainian representatives, pointed out at an early stage that the aircraft could be damaged by Russian air defenses. Internet aircraft trackers such as Flightradar24 reported that GPS data on the exact position of the aircraft over Russia had been disrupted. Images from the rear of the wreckage showed small holes that looked like the impacts of fragments from anti-aircraft missiles. Baku leaks allegations The Kremlin's initial reaction was to warn against hasty speculation. On Thursday afternoon, however, the Azerbaijani leadership widely spread the suspicion that the aircraft had been hit by a Russian Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile. Citing unnamed government officials in Baku, domestic and international media reported that the aircraft had been damaged on approach to Grozny. There was particular outrage in Azerbaijan that the aircraft had allegedly been denied an emergency landing at nearby Russian airports, citing bad weather. The pilots had to maneuver the almost uncontrollable plane over the Caspian Sea to Aktau. The altitude and speed fluctuated considerably. The plane crashed during an attempt to land in Aktau. Survivors are being brought back to Azerbaijan Seven more injured survivors were flown to Baku on Thursday in an Azerbaijani disaster control plane. A plane had previously brought several surviving and dead victims back to their homeland of Azerbaijan. #worldnewschannel #kazakhstan #planecrash #planecrash Subscribe to the WELT YouTube Channel / weltvideotv WELT DOKU Channel / weltdoku WELT Podcast Channel / weltpodcast WELT Netzreporter Channel / dienetzreporter The WELT news livestream http://bit.ly/2fwuMPg The top news on WELT.de http://bit.ly/2rQQD9Q The media library on WELT.de http://bit.ly/2Iydxv8 WELT news channel on Instagram / welt.nachrichtensender WELT on Instagram / welt On our own behalf: Due to the high volume of irrelevant and offensive posts, we are currently unable to accept any more comments. Thank you for your understanding - the WELT team created Video 2024