Images spread on mysterious holes in the plane

At first, Russian authorities blamed birds.

But the route and the images of the mysterious holes in the plane have the Internet speculating about other causes of the tragedy in Kazakhstan.

– You can lose control of the plane, but you don’t fly crazy off course as a consequence of that, says Richard Aboulafia, analyst at AeroDynamic Advisory to Reuters.

38 people died under mysterious circumstances when a passenger plane from Azerbaijan crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

The plane was on the “wrong” side of the Caspian Sea after being refused a landing in Russia.

Miraculously, 29 people also survived the crash, including two children, who can be seen in video clips being helped out of the mangled fuselage.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243, an Embraer 190, was on its way to Grozny, the capital of the Russian sub-republic of Chechnya, on Wednesday morning when it was denied landing for unknown reasons.

Nor was the plane allowed to land in Makhachkala, in the Russian sub-republic of Dagestan. According to Reuters, the airport was closed for an unknown reason.

The plane now disappeared from flight tracking sites and did not appear until minutes before it crashed outside the Kazakh city of Aqtau.

Wrong side of the sea

Then it was on the “wrong” side of the Caspian Sea, about 450 kilometers from its original destination.

The Russian Aviation Authority later wrote on Telegram:

“Preliminary: After a collision with birds, due to an emergency on board, the captain decided to go to an alternative airport – the choice fell on Aqtau”.

The explanation was dismissed by an aviation expert who believes that it is normal to land at the nearest airfield after a bird collision.

– You can lose control of the plane, but you don’t fly crazy off course as a consequence of that, says Richard Aboulafia, analyst at AeroDynamic Advisory to Reuters.

New drone attacks

Ukrainian drone attacks may be an explanation for the closed airports. Reuter writes that the region has been exposed to several drone attacks in the past month.

On Wednesday, two regions bordering Chechnya also reported new drone attacks, according to the news agency.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday that the plane changed course due to bad weather according to information he had received, but that the cause of the crash must be fully investigated.

Later, Kazakhstan reported that the plane’s black box had been recovered and that it will hopefully provide answers to what happened to the plane.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences after the tragedy, while Kazakh authorities promise to cooperate and give Azerbaijan full transparency in the investigation.

Fireball

Mobile footage of the plane’s crash surfaced almost immediately after the accident, showing the pilot losing control and the plane hitting the ground in a fireball.

Later on Wednesday, footage also began circulating on social media purporting to show shrapnel damage from anti-aircraft fire, but Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said he did not want to preempt the investigation with any speculation.

– I cannot say anything at the moment. I saw what people posted. But when it fell to the ground it bounced around, there’s a lot that could have happened, it’s too early to draw any conclusions,” he told Kazakh news agency Kazinform.

In Azerbaijan, a national day of mourning was declared after the accident.

– This is a great tragedy that has become an immense sadness for the Azeri people, says President Ilham Aliyev.