By Gleb Stolyarov and Nailia Bagirova
BAKU (Reuters) -Two passengers and one crew member on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters that they heard at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.
Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian attack drones. At least 38 people were killed while 29 survived.
"After the bang...I thought the plane was going to fall apart," Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from hospital.
He said he had begun to recite prayers and prepare for the end after hearing the bang.
"It was obvious that the plane had been damaged in some way," he said. "It was as if it was drunk - not the same plane anymore."
Another passenger on the plane told Reuters that she also heard a loud bang.
"I was very scared," said Vafa Shabanova, adding that there was also a second bang.
She was then told by a flight attendant to move to the back of the plane.
Both passengers said there appeared to be a problem with the oxygen levels in the cabin after the bang.
Flight attendant Zulfugar Asadov said landing was denied in Grozny due to fog so the pilot circled at which point there were bangs outside the aircraft.
"The pilot had just lifted the plan up when I heard a bang from the left wing. There were three bangs," he said.
Something rammed into his left arm. The cabin lost pressure.
Beyond the horror of the crash, the first-person narratives from the passengers gives an insight into what may have caused the disaster.
Azerbaijan Airlines suspended a host of flights to Russian cities on Friday and said it considered the crash was caused by what it termed "physical and technical external interference". It did not detail what that interference was.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.
Russia has said it is important to wait for the official investigation to finish its work to understand what happened.
CRASH LANDING
The Embraer passenger jet had flown from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern Chechnya region, before veering off hundreds of miles across the Caspian Sea.
"The captain said that he was advised to land the plane at sea, but he decided to set a course for Aktau and land it on the ground," attendant Asadov said.
"He warned that there would be a hard landing and asked us to be ready and prepare the passengers."
It crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian after what Russia's aviation watchdog said was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike.
Footage shot by passengers on the plane before it crashed showed oxygen masks down and people wearing life vests. Later footage showed bloodied and bruised passengers climbing out of the plane.
After the turmoil of the crash landing, there was silence before the moaning of the injured began, Rakhimov said.
The crash has underscored the risks to civil aviation even when aircraft are flying hundreds of miles from a war zone, especially when a major drone war is underway.
Previous disasters include the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 in 2020 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, killing all 176 people on board.
In 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian BUK missile system with the loss of 298 passengers and crew.
In 1983, the Soviet Union shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 after it veered off course and flew through prohibited airspace. In 1988 during the Iran-Iraq War, the U.S. warship the Vincennes shot down an Iran Air flight over the Gulf, killing all 290 people on board.
DRONE WAR
The Azerbaijan Airlines plane got into trouble near Grozny which is more than 850 km (530 miles) from the front lines in Ukraine, but still a repeated target for Ukrainian drones which have struck far behind Russian lines.
Russia uses advanced electronic jamming equipment to confuse Ukrainian drone location and communication systems and a large number of air defence systems to shoot down the drones.
Since Russia send thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, airlines have flown around Ukraine and Russia has closed major airports in southwestern Russia.
"We're in a conflict in that area, and that's not going to change," said Andrew Nicholson, CEO, Osprey Flight Solutions.
"The second you stick civilian aircraft in that same airspace, you massively increase the risk, particularly when a drone attack is ongoing and air defence activity is ongoing, as was the case in this scenario."
Russia's aviation watchdog said on Friday the plane had decided to reroute from its original destination in Chechnya amid dense fog and a local alert over Ukrainian drones.
Rosaviatsia said that the captain had been offered other airports at which to land, but had chosen Kazakhstan's Aktau. It said that it would provide comprehensive support to Kazakh and Azerbaijani investigations looking into the crash.
Asked about reports that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot down the aircraft, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday he had nothing to add and did not want to give any assessments until the official investigation made its conclusions.