Preliminary report on Russia-bound airliner crash released

Numerous ?foreign objects? have been recovered from the wreckage of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in December under unclear circumstances

Kazakhstan's Transport Ministry released on Tuesday a preliminary report on the deadly crash of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243. New details were provided but no conclusions were drawn or blame assigned. Numerous "foreign objects" were recovered from the plane's wreckage, according to the report.

The crash occurred on December 25, when the airliner bound for the Russian city of Grozny was unable to land at its destination due to heavy fog and an ongoing Ukrainian drone attack. After the plane sustained damage mid-air, the crew decided to return to Baku. The aircraft was ultimately diverted to Aktau, Kazakhstan, where it crash landed, killing 38 out of the 67 people on board.

According to Kazakh investigators, who examined the plane's black boxes, the crew heard a loud noise as the plane was approaching Grozny. The aircraft was some 3,500 feet (around 1 km) above ground when it began to lose pressure, with the auto-pilot and auto-throttle disengaging moments later. This was followed shortly thereafter by a second loud noise, according to the report.

The pilots called the cabin crew to assess the situation, with one attendant reporting an explosion on board. "Two seats exploded, I cannot approach because the passengers are standing," the attendant told the crew.

According to the transcript of communications between the crew and Grozny airport, the pilots assumed the plane had collided with a flock of birds. When the hydraulics systems were lost a few minutes later, the pilots were left with only engine vectoring to control the aircraft. Later in the flight, the crew also speculated that an oxygen tank may have exploded in the passenger cabin, the transcript shows.

Images in the report show severe damage to the aircraft, particularly to its tail section. However, most of the plane's fuselage burned after impact. Numerous foreign pieces of metal have been recovered from the wreckage, according to the report.

"Initial inspection of the surviving fragments revealed multiple [instances of] perforated and non-perforated damage of varying size and shape in the tail section of the fuselage, vertical stabilizer and stabilizer, elevator and rudder. Similar damage was found on the left engine and left wing of the aircraft, as well as the aircraft's [internal] components. In some places, the holes have a regular rectangular shape," the report reads.

The investigation abstained from speculating on the cause of the damage or the exact nature of the foreign metal fragments recovered from the wreckage. The objects have been sent for further examination, the report notes.

The crash has prompted intense speculation about its causes, with theories including a strike of a Ukrainian drone and an accidental hit by Russian anti-aircraft defenses. While Moscow has offered an apology to Baku because the incident occurred in its airspace, it has neither admitted nor denied the potential involvement of its military and has urged awaiting the conclusion of the probe.

On the day of the crash, Russia's Chechen Republic reported being targeted by Ukrainian UAVs, while another Ukrainian drone hit a shopping mall in the neighboring republic of North Ossetia-Alania, with one woman killed in the strike.

(RT.com)