The Azerbaijan Airlines jet that crashed in Kazakhstan this week experienced physical "external interference," according to the carrier and Azerbaijan's transport minister, citing early inquiry results. 

Azerbaijani authorities confirmed that 32 people survived the crash of the Embraer 190, which occurred near the city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the Caspian Sea’s eastern shore.

The flight was en route from Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital on the Caspian's western shore, to Grozny, Russia.

A pro-government Azerbaijani website, Caliber, citing unnamed sources, reported that the plane was likely downed by a Russian missile fired from a Pantsir-S air defense system. This claim was also picked up by The New York Times, Euronews, and Anadolu Agency, before the Kremlin warned against speculating before the investigation is completed.

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Some military and aviation experts speculated that the missile strike could have been accidental, possibly due to the plane flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported.

A former French BEA air accident expert noted that the wreckage showed "a lot of shrapnel" damage, which he described as "reminiscent" of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was downed by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Azerbaijan's Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev told reporters that expert opinions and eyewitness accounts conclude "there was external interference," adding it was "necessary to find out what kind of weapon," he said, citing claims from survivors who heard "three explosions" as the jet flew over Grozny.

Azerbaijan Airlines said it has halted flights to ten Russian airports, and early findings indicated that the accident of Baku-Grozny aircraft J2-8243 was "due to physical and technical external interference."

Dmitry Yadrov, the chairman of Russia's civil aviation organization, stated earlier that "the situation on this day and at these hours in the area of Grozny airport was very complex," citing Ukrainian attack drones targeting "civilian infrastructure in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz."
 
He explained that the Azeri pilot made "two attempts to land the plane in Grozny that were unsuccessful" in "thick fog," and after being offered other airports decided to go to Aktau.