What we know about the Azerbaijan Airlines crash

On December 25, 38 people died when an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, scheduled to land in Russia, crashed in Kazakhstan.

The circumstances surrounding the plane's crash remain unclear, but limited evidence so far suggests it may have been damaged by missiles fired by a Russian air defense system as it attempted to land in Chechnya.

Here's what we know about flight J2-8243.

Early in the morning on Christmas Day, flight J2-8243 took off from Baku Airport, the capital of Azerbaijan. It was scheduled to land in Grozny, the capital of the Russian region of Chechnya.

There were 67 passengers on board, most of them Azerbaijanis, in addition to citizens of Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The plane was an Embraer 190, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines.

As the flight approached Grozny, heavy fog entered, say surviving passengers.

They describe the pilot trying to land the plane twice during these conditions.

Survivors say that on the third attempt, they felt a series of explosions hit the plane.

One of them told Russian television: “The third time, something exploded, and part of the plane’s skin flew off.”

Zulfikar Asadov, a flight attendant on the plane, told local media that the impact of the strike “caused panic inside.”

He added: “We tried to calm (the passengers) down and sit them down. At that moment, another blow occurred, and my arm was injured.”

A video filmed by a passenger during the flight showed oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling.

Azerbaijani Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev said: “All (survivors) without exception said that they heard three explosion sounds when the plane was over Grozny.”

He said that the plane was subjected to “external interference” and was damaged internally and externally as it attempted to land.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has targeted Chechnya and other parts of the Russian Caucasus with drone attacks.

After the incident, authorities in Moscow said that such attacks led to a protocol to close the airspace over Grozny.

According to local officials, air defense shot down a drone over a shopping mall in Vladikavkaz, in nearby North Ossetia, that morning.

It is unclear whether the Closed Airspace Protocol – known as the “Carpet Plan” – was enacted before or while flight J2-8243 was in Russian airspace.

After the accident that occurred over Grozny, the plane diverted its course about 450 kilometers east to Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan.

It remains unclear why it was diverted over the Caspian Sea, a much longer journey than several other options.

Russian aviation authorities claimed that the plane's pilots were “offered other airports”, but they chose Aktau.

Data from flight tracking website Flight Radar shows that the plane was oscillating up and down as it approached Aktau, before swerving and landing just kilometers from the airport.

A video clip from nearby shows the plane descending rapidly in the air before hitting the ground and sliding several hundred meters into a ball of flame.

38 people were killed and 29 survived, some seriously injured. Interestingly, some survivors were seen walking and crawling from the wreckage of the plane.

The plane's pilots are credited with saving lives by managing to land part of the plane, although they were killed in the accident.

It is believed that most of those who survived were sitting at the stern.

Initial reports by Russian media indicate that the plane collided with a flock of birds.

However, aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane's GPS systems were affected by electronic jamming and then damaged by shrapnel from Russian air defense missiles.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday that the United States had “early indications” that Russia was responsible, but declined to comment further.

The Azerbaijani government has so far avoided directly accusing Russia, but Azerbaijani government sources told Reuters news agency that the investigation has already identified the weapon that opened fire on the flight, which is the Russian Pantsir-S anti-aircraft system.

The Kremlin has so far refused to comment on reports that the plane was attacked by Russian weapons.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The investigation is ongoing, and until the results are reached as a result of the investigation, we do not consider ourselves qualified to give any assessments.”

The plane's flight recorders were found, containing data to help determine the cause of the plane crash.

Reports in Baku indicate that Russia and Kazakhstan proposed forming a committee from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a regional organization dominated by Russia – to investigate the incident, but Azerbaijan instead demanded an international investigation.

Azerbaijan Airlines and many other airlines suspended their flights to some Russian cities in response to the incident.