Airline praises pilots in crash-landing where both died but nearly half the passengers survived

• An Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38, including both pilots.
• Remarkably, nearly half the passengers — 29 people — survived.
• The airline’s president praised the “heroism” of the pilots and crew while speaking to reporters.

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

Although both pilots were among the 38 fatalities reported by Kazakh authorities, nearly half the passengers— 29 people —survived.

Samir Rzayev, who heads up the airline, also known as AZAL, told reporters on Wednesday that the two pilot’s “heroism will never be forgotten.”

“While this tragic accident brought a significant loss to our nation, the crew’s valiant dedication to their duties 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 collectively had over 15,000 flight hours and that the plane had recently passed a technical inspection.

“Despite these measures, the causes of the incident are still under investigation,” Rzayev added.

The Embraer 190 jet had departed from Baku, Azerbaijan, early Wednesday, bound for Grozny, Russia.

Adverse weather conditions led to a diversion, the airline told BBC News. The flight-tracking website Flightradar24 shows that the plane made a crash-landing at about 06:28 local time near Aktau, Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan’s Senate Chairman Ashimbayev Maulen told Reuters on Thursday that the cause of the crash remains unknown.

Preliminary information from Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, suggested that the plane diverted after a bird strike caused an onboard emergency, according to AP.

And Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cautioned against speculating on the cause of the crash before the completion of an investigation, per the Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti.

However, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, put the blame on Russia. On Wednesday evening, he claimed in an X post that the commercial airline was “shot down by a Russian air defense system.”

In the post, he said there is video footage from inside the plane, showing “punctured life vests and other damage.”

Others have also suggested Russian involvement.

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

“Incidents of civilian airliners being misidentified and shot down by air-defence systems are not unprecedented in the region,” a critical alert issued by Osprey and provided to Business Insider said.

Oliver Alexander, an OSINT analyst, said in a message to BI that “at this point, I don’t think there is enough available evidence to conclusively say what exactly happened (type of missile etc).”

But he added that “all the evidence I have seen points to the aircraft being hit by shrapnel from an air defense missile which severely damaged the elevator and rudder controls.”

Ukrainian drones have targeted Grozny in recent weeks, and the governor of the Russian region of North Ossetia said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that there were Ukrainian drone attacks carried out in a number of regions of the North Caucasus Federal District that day.

The district includes Grozny and the surrounding area.

The post specifically mentioned a drone being taken down in Vladikavkas, about 70 miles west of Grozny.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a statement: “There are videos of the plane crash available in the media and on social networks, and everyone can watch them. However, the reasons for the crash are not yet known to us.”

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 conducted in line with international aviation standards.”

Aircraft manufacturer Embraer said in a statement that it was “deeply saddened” by the crash and was working closely with relevant authorities to support the investigation.