Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck Azerbaijan plane that crashed: US official At least 38 people were killed after the plane crashed in Kazakhstan.

Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck Azerbaijan plane that crashed: US official
At least 38 people were killed after the plane crashed in Kazakhstan.

ByLauren Peller and Meredith Deliso
December 26, 2024, 8:42 PM

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Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck Azerbaijan plane: US officialThere are early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the Azerbaijan Airlines pla…Show More
There are early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing dozens, a U.S. official told ABC News.

There is new evidence that the passenger plane may have been shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile from a Pantsir-S1 system, a high-level Azeri government source told ABC News.

A drone view shows emergency specialists working at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhst…Show more
Azamat Sarsenbayev/Reuters
If Russia did indeed strike the Azerbaijan plane, the U.S. official said it would be yet another example of Russia’s recklessness in the war with Ukraine. The plane was flying over an area where Moscow’s air defense has battled Ukrainian drones recently.

The White House referred ABC News to officials in the region as the investigation continues.

At least 38 people are dead and 29 others injured after the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan’s Aktau Airport on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations told ABC News.

Many of the 29 survivors were hospitalized, including two children, the spokesperson said.

The aircraft was flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia when it crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan, the spokesperson said. The flight had been rerouted to Aktau due to fog in Grozny, Russian news agencies reported