The Russian government has denied its involvement in the crash of a Russia-bound Azerbaijani passenger plane that killed 38 people in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
Euronews, citing Azerbaijani government sources, had exclusively reported that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash.
However, Russia said its preliminary findings indicated that the plane’s pilot attempted an emergency landing following a bird strike.
According to the airline, the plane diverted across the Caspian Sea, from its destination in Chechnya to western Kazakhstan before it went down near the Kazakh city of Aktau.
The plane which had 67 persons on board burst into flames after the crash, as rescue workers intensified efforts to find more persons.
According to the carrier, 29 out of the 67 people on board flight J2-8243 survived the crash while 38 fatalities were reported.
Azerbaijan on Thursday, held a national day of mourning for the victims of the crash.
“This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people,” President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday.
Speaking on the crash, the Russian government spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said speculating that Russia is involved is wrong.
“Currently an investigation is in progress. Any air incident should be investigated by specialized aviation authorities,” Peskov stated as reported by Tass news agency.
“It is necessary to wait for the end of this probe,” he noted.
“It would be wrong to build any hypotheses before the panel of inquiry presents its conclusions. Of course, we cannot do that. No one should do it,” he added.
Peskov said the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday, during the informal summit of the CIS, offered deep condolences to the families and friends of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
The Embraer 190 aircraft’s passengers were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
While the real cause of the accident remains sketchy, Kazakhstan authorities said they had recovered the flight data recorder and an investigation in under way.