At 9:25 am on December 25, 2024, a plane carrying 67 people crashed near Aktau International Airport in Kazakhstan. The accident killed 38 people and shocked the world. Until now, the truth behind the accident has not been fully revealed. Shrouded in fog, the cause, impact and follow-up of the accident are attracting the attention of the world.
Accident background
The incident took place in Aktau, located in western Kazakhstan and on the coast of the Caspian Sea. The city’s name means “white mountains” in Kazakh because Aktau’s landscape and cityscape appear pale in hue when viewed from the Caspian Sea. According to 2019 statistics, Aktau has a permanent population of only 180,000 people. Initially, this area developed due to oil exploration, and even today, it still has a strong industrial atmosphere. However, it was in this small lakeside town that a sudden disaster broke the tranquility.
The J2-8243 flight that caused the accident was an international flight of Azerbaijan Airlines, flying from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny International Airport in Russia. The aircraft type of the flight is an E190AR passenger aircraft produced by Embraer, which is a short- to medium-range narrow-body passenger aircraft. The aircraft is 36 meters long and can accommodate 98 to 114 people.
In the early morning of December 25, at Baku International Airport, the flight departure time was approaching, and passengers were boarding the plane one after another. Following the tower’s instructions, the aircraft began to taxi onto the runway. At this time, the passengers may not realize that this supposedly ordinary flight is flying in a direction full of unknowns and crises.
What happened after the accident
A quick look at the map reveals that the flight took off from Baku, Azerbaijan, and was destined for Grozny in the northwest. However, the plane finally crossed the entire Caspian Sea and flew to Aktau on the other side of the lake, which was obviously inconsistent with common sense**. Flight tracking website Flightrader24 showed that the GPS signal of the flight from Baku to Grozny was abnormally interfered when it crossed the Russian border. Immediately afterwards, the flight began to deviate from its original route, first heading west, and then turning 180 degrees and flying east towards the Caspian Sea. Finally, he arrived at Aktau on the other side of the Caspian Sea and requested an emergency landing from the local control tower.
According to a New York Times interview with a crash survivor, everything on the flight started out as normal. However, as the flight continued, some passengers began to notice strange vibrations—at first it was a slight bump that was almost unnoticed; then it became a more violent tremor, the clouds outside the window rolled, and there was a small noise in the cabin. Then, a violent vibration almost threw everyone from their seats. Oxygen masks fell from overhead, and chaotic shouts erupted in the cabin. Passengers scrambled to grab their masks, trying to regain their composure. The crew’s voices also became raspy now, but not entirely clear. At this moment, they realized that this was not a simple air turbulence, but some kind of more deadly threat.
It is not difficult to see from the video shot by local residents that during the emergency landing of the plane, although the pilot tried his best to control the landing posture of the plane, the huge impact and instantaneous stall had caused the aircraft fuselage to lose balance. In the end, the plane dived to the ground at an excessive angle. The right wing touched the ground first, then rolled and exploded, splitting the body into two parts. The nose section was destroyed by the explosion the moment it touched the ground, and the tail section was upside down outside the main wreckage.
Public data shows that there were 67 people on the accident flight, of which 37 were from Azerbaijan, accounting for more than half; followed by 16 people from Russia, 6 people from Kazakhstan, and 3 people from Kyrgyzstan. Moments before the accident, a passenger filmed the situation inside the cabin with his mobile phone.
This was an extremely serious air crash. 38 of the 67 people on board were killed. Among the last survivors, there are also patients with serious injuries such as brain injuries, concussions, chest injuries, and traumatic shock. The day after the accident, the president of Azerbaijan declared national mourning.
Analysis of accident causes
After the accident, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency issued a statement stating that it was initially believed that the plane was hit by a flock of birds. Due to an emergency on board, the captain decided to divert to Aktau Airport. But is this really the case?
It is not difficult to see from the video taken at the accident scene that there are many traces similar to single holes on the wreckage of the plane involved. Combined with the abnormal GPS interference information displayed on the Flightrader24 website, we have to wonder whether the accident is related to the air defense system in Russia.
Since the Russian-Ukrainian war broke out in February 2022, Russia has been full of gunpowder near its borders in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Just before the accident occurred on December 21, Ukraine launched a drone air strike on the city of Kazan in Russia, causing damage to two high-rise residential buildings in the city. This was the rare time Ukraine launched an air strike on a city in Russia since the outbreak of the war. In this case, Russia’s air defense system has been on high alert.
Therefore, Emirates Flight 8243 was probably shot down by the Russian air defense system. When the aircraft flew near the Russian border, it was misidentified by the Russian air defense system, resulting in GPS interference and anti-aircraft shooting. And because the nearby airport was unable to land due to heavy fog, the captain had to change direction and control the damaged fuselage to fly toward the Caspian Sea in the east. Finally, the emergency landing failed in Kazakhstan on the coast of the Caspian Sea, causing the plane to crash.
Several Reuters reports echoed the same sentiment. The agency quoted some survivors of the accident as saying that they heard several loud bangs as the plane approached its original destination of Grozny; four sources familiar with the preliminary results of the accident investigation said that the accident plane was hit by a Russian Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile system. As the plane approached Grozny, the aircraft’s communication system was disabled by the electronic warfare system.
Although the final investigation report of the accident has not been released so far, we cannot 100% conclude that the accident was related to Russia. But in history, Russia has been linked to civil aviation disasters more than once.
Similar accidents
As early as 10 years ago, it was during the Crimean crisis in Ukraine. On July 17, 2014, at 12:15 noon, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 took off from Amsterdam Airport in the Netherlands and flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At 16:20 p.m., the Boeing 777-200ER passenger plane flying the flight suddenly crashed while cruising in the airspace of eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board were killed. The accident investigation report
shows that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was destroyed by a Buk missile launched by the Russian military. However, Russian officials have so far denied that the crash was caused by a Russian attack, and claimed that the Ukrainian Air Force was the real culprit of the accident.
Since the invention of civil aviation, air crashes, large and small, have never stopped. Whether it is the Emirates Airline 8243 crash or the Malaysian Airlines MH17 crash ten years ago, it is a profound warning. Whether it is due to technical failure, bad weather, or human error, the occurrence of air crashes always brings profound pain and reflection. However, behind some air disasters, there are heavier costs hidden - wars, terrorist attacks, and political struggles. These innocent lives were taken away due to global strife and conflicts. They were not only passengers on the flight, but also ordinary people like you and me. They also had dreams, families, and life trajectories of their own.
Our memory of the deceased is also a memory of ourselves. The death knell is tolling alone for everyone. In the future, we must appeal to the voices of peace and seek a more rational and tolerant world order. Let the departed souls find peace, and let all families no longer suffer innocent destruction due to disputes.
Source Links
[Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crash - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%98%BF%E5%A1%9E%E6%8B%9C%E7 %96%86%E8%88%AA%E7%A9%BA8243%E5%8F%B7%E7%8F%AD%E6%9C%BA%E7%A9%BA%E9%9A%BE)
Kazakhstan Plane Crash Survivors Describe Chaos on Azerbaijan Airlines Flight - The New York Times
Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crashed; Russian regulators believe there was an emergency after colliding with a flock of birds - RTHK 7. [Ukrainian drones penetrate deep into Russian territory Hitting high-floor apartments in Kazan](https://www.rfi.fr/cn/%E5%9B%BD%E9%99%85%E6%8A%A5%E9%81%93/20241222-%E4%B9%8C%E5%85%8B%E5%85%B0%E6%97%A0%E4%BA%BA%E6%9C %BA%E6%B7%B1%E5%85%A5%E4%BF%84%E5%A2%83-%E5%87%BB%E4%B8%AD%E5%96% 80%E5%B1%B1%E5%B8%82%E9%AB%98%E6%A5%BC%E5%B1%82%E5%85%AC%E5%AF%93)
Exclusive: Survivors on Azerbaijani plane say they heard bangs before it went down | Reuters
Russian air-defense system downed Azerbaijan plane, sources say | Reuters
[Preliminary investigation shows that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was shot down by Russian air defense forces](https://www.rfi.fr/cn/%E5%9B%BD%E9%99%85/20241226 -%E5%88%9D%E6%AD%A5%E8%B0%83%E6%9F%A5%E6%98%BE%E7%A4%BA%E9%98%BF%E5%A1%9E%E6%8B %9C%E7%96%86%E8%88%AA%E7%A9%BA%E5%85%AC%E5%8F%B8%E8%88%AA%E7%8F%AD%E8%A2%AB%E4 %BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF%E9%98%B2%E7%A9%BA%E9%83%A8%E9%98%9F%E5%87%BB%E8%90%BD)
Pantsir-S1 missile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 12. Investigation by the Dutch Safety Board | MH17 incident | Government.nl