Airline praises pilots in crash landing that killed both but nearly half of passengers survived

• The crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan killed 38 people, including both pilots.

• Remarkably, almost half of the passengers – 29 people – survived.

• Speaking to reporters, the airline’s president praised the “heroism” of the pilots and crew.

The president of Azerbaijan Airlines praised the pilots of flight J2-8243 after the plane with 67 people on board crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Although both pilots were among the 38 fatalities reported by Kazakh authorities, almost half of the passengers – 29 people – survived.

Samir Rzayev, the head of the airline, also known as AZAL, told reporters on Wednesday that the “heroism of the two pilots will never be forgotten.”

“While this tragic accident meant a significant loss for our nation, the crew’s brave efforts until the last moment and their prioritization of human life have immortalized their names in history,” Rzayev said, according to the Azerbaijani news agency Report.

Rzayev said the pilots had a total of over 15,000 flight hours and the aircraft recently passed a technical inspection.

“Despite these measures, the causes of the incident are still being investigated,” Rzayev added.

The Associated Press released video of the crash that shows some passengers being pulled from the back of the plane, an area that is traditionally safer in a crash.

According to a 2015 Time magazine analysis of U.S. federal data from 1985 to 2000, seats in the back of the plane had a death rate of 32%, compared to 39% in the middle and 38% in the front. The death rate was lowest in the rear middle seats at 28%.

Nevertheless, the circumstances of the crash play a larger role, such as the landing of a jet and the behavior of its pilots.

The Embraer 190 jet took off early Wednesday from Baku, Azerbaijan, bound for Grozny, Russia.

Adverse weather conditions led to a diversion, the airline told BBC News. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 shows the plane crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan at around 6:28 a.m. local time.

Kazakh Senate Chairman Ashimbayev Maulen told Reuters on Thursday that the cause of the crash remained unknown.

Preliminary information from Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority Rosaviatsia indicated the plane was diverted after a bird strike caused an emergency on board, according to the AP.

And Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned against speculating about the cause of the crash before the investigation is complete, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.

However, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Combating Disinformation, blamed Russia. On Wednesday evening, he claimed in an X-Post that the commercial airline had been “shot down by a Russian air defense system.”

In the post, he said there was video footage from inside the plane that showed “punctured life jackets and other damage.”

Others have also suggested Russian involvement.

Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation security company, told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the plane may have been damaged by a Russian missile defense system. The company cited footage of the crash, the apparent damage to the plane and recent military activity in the area.

“Incidents in which civilian aircraft are misidentified and shot down by air defense systems are not unprecedented in the region,” said a critical alert from Osprey provided to Business Insider.

Oliver Alexander, an OSINT analyst, said in a message to BI: “At this point I do not believe there is enough evidence to conclusively say what exactly happened (missile type, etc.).”

But he added: “All the evidence I have seen suggests that the aircraft was hit by shrapnel from an anti-aircraft missile, which severely damaged the elevator and rudder controls.”

Ukrainian drones have attacked Grozny in recent weeks, and the governor of Russia’s North Ossetia region said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that Ukrainian drone strikes were carried out in several regions of the North Caucasus Federal District that day.

The district includes Grozny and the surrounding area.

The post specifically mentioned that a drone was shot down in Vladikavkaz, about 70 miles west of Grozny.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a statement: “Videos of the plane crash are available in the media and social networks and everyone can watch them. However, we do not yet know the reasons for the crash.”

It would not be the first time that Russia has been blamed for the downing of a passenger plane.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Investigators said the missile system used came from Russia and was fired from a part of Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed forces.

Russia has denied involvement in the MH17 crash.

Azerbaijan Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Rzayev, the airline’s president, told reporters that the plane’s black box had been recovered and that “its analysis is being carried out in accordance with international aviation standards.”

Embraer, manufacturer of the plane that crashed on Wednesday, said in a statement that it was “deeply saddened” by the crash and was working closely with relevant authorities to assist in the investigation.

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