This version can be supported by a video circulating on the Internet showing damage to the airframe, which may have been caused by anti-aircraft defenses.
Therefore, the real reason why the plane could not land in Grozny could be not the fog, but the Ukrainian drone attack.
Surviving passenger Subhonkul Rahimov, who posted a video from the plane taken shortly before the disaster, said the pilots tried to land in Grozny three times and on the third attempt “something exploded” and it did not happen inside the plane.
Data from flight-tracking website Flightradar show that the plane had apparent control problems as it flew across the Caspian Sea to Aktau. The plane had difficulty maintaining altitude for more than an hour. The source of the “Baza” channel of the “Telegram” channel at the Aktau airport said that the pilots only steered the plane with the thrust of the engines, because the elevators did not work.
Another video from the plane shows a damaged wing.
It has already been reported that an Azerbaijani passenger plane carrying 67 people crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, 38 of whom died.
The “Embraer 190” plane of the “Azerbaijan Airlines” airline company, which had 62 passengers and five crew members, crashed in a field about three kilometers from the airport of the western city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
Video footage shows the plane crashing into the ground at a 45-degree angle as it prepares to land, followed by an explosion.
The survivors are mostly in the rear of the plane, which broke away from the rest of the fuselage on impact.
The plane was traveling from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, to the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, in the Russian North Caucasus, but was diverted to Aktau due to fog, as officially announced.
According to preliminary reports, the plane sent a distress signal over the Caspian Sea, the APA news agency of Azerbaijan reports. The airline announced soon after the disaster that the plane had collided with a flock of birds.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that “the reasons for the disaster are unknown to us” and that they should be investigated.
The Ministry of Emergencies of Kazakhstan said that 29 people survived, of which 27 were hospitalized. Two children are among the injured.
11 of the injured are in serious condition.
Citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were on board.