the aircraft originally tried to land at grozny airport in southern russia, but witnesses say there wasn explosion before the plane was diverted. jon donnison reports. this is the moment the plane went down. it's remarkable anyone survived. but emerging from the wreckage, some did. the flight had been diverted to kazakhstan after passengers heard bangs when it tried to land at its original destination, grozny, in chechnya. translation: they say there were two bangs, l but i only heard one. it was quite substantial. i honestly didn't hear the second one. at first only some of the oxygen masks fell out, not all of them. investigators are now examining the damage to the outside of the plane. the owner, azerbaijan airlines, said only that it had suffered external physical and technical interference. the kremlin has again refused to comment on speculation that it was mistakenly brought down by a russian air defence system. translation: i'd like to point out that the situation on that l day during those hours in the area around grozny airport was very difficult. ukrainian military drones were

according to putin, flight 8243 had made several attempts to land at grozny airport, in russia's northaucasus region. he claimed that grozny and other places nearby had been under attack from ukrainian drones and admitted russian air defence systems had been in operation. azerbaijan said that president aliyev had told president putin that the plane had been subjected to external, physical and technical interference in russian airspace. so, words you very rarely hear from vladimir putin, "i apologise", but no public admission that it was a russian missile that caused this disaster. and also, no explanation why this plane was allowed anywhere near grozny airport during a ukrainian drone attack. aviation experts suggest the aircraft may have been hit by shrapnel from russian air defence missiles. officials in russia had initially claimed the plane had hit a flock of birds. remarkably, 29 people survived this. translation: the plane turned round, and at that moment, there was a blast outside the aircraft. my arm was hurt in that blast. a deep wound, as if someone had hit me in the arm with

ukrainian military drones were carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure in grozny andnearby. in azerbaijan today the first funerals for some of the 38 people killed. why they died will take time to find out. and will likely be disputed. skwra>> a former air accident investigator gave me his assessment of what happened. >> these days, there is so much imagery and social media in the news occasionally it is possible to draw clear conclusions early on. on the photographs we have seen and video footage which are many in the public domann clearly showed damage to the aircraft which is consistent with an explosion of some kind almost certainly external but very close to the aircraft. and those images with the other evidence indicate strongly that some kind of air defense missile has exploded close to the aircraft. that has not only caused the disruption of the aircraft skin which is easily apparent, but more importantly other suggests that it disrupted the aircraft flying control systems which are hydraulic and if they lose the high call like fluid the pilots effectively los

had been in operation at the time that the azerbaijan airlines flight had been trying to land at groznyrt. he said that the air defences were trying to repel a ukrainian drone attack. no explanation in the kremlin readout of that conversation why that plane was allowed anywhere near grozny airport. if there was a ukrainian drone attack, why the airspace hadn't been closed. so to sum up, what putin didn't say today was, yes, we did this. it was a russian missile that downed the plane. but this is the closest russia has come so far to admitting responsibility for the disaster. let's speak to former air accident investigator tim atkinson... thank you forjoining us. what angle do you expect the investigation to take? the olitical investigation to take? tue: political machinations investigation to take? tte: political machinations which we are seeing won't really affect what the investigators are doing. it's still very early daysin doing. it's still very early days in the investigation, it's a matter of working out where the evidence is and going and gathering it, whether it is the physical

the head of russia�*s aviation authority says the plane was unable land at grozny airport because ofne attack. 38 people died when the plane came down, two miles short of the runway, at aktau airport, in kazakhstan. this report from jon donnison. u nfortu nately we unfortunately we don�*t have that report. let�*s speak to anthony venetz who used to be an airline pilot — and is also — a former air crash investigator. talk us through what comes next. we�*ve had the recovered, where do we go from here? this is the case _ where do we go from here? this is the case with _ where do we go from here? this is the case with all— is the case with all investigations of this nature, the first thing is gathering the first thing is gathering the factual information. so, of course we have a tendency to come up with some preliminary theories on what might�*ve happened. but, really, the basis of it is on gathering factual information first. there�*ll be a lot of different sources of that information so details about plane flights, even background on the aircraft itself, it maiden records, things like

official told cnn of mistaken identity with the russian city of grozny. the flight's intended destination under ukrainian drone attack at the time, ukraine's ukrainian combat drones were mounting terrorist attacks on civil infrastructure in the cities of grozny and vladikavkaz. the head of russia's federal air transport agency said. due to this, in the area of the grozny airport, the coy wire plan was introduced, meaning all aircraft had to leave the indicated airspace immediately. russian aviation authorities claim the plane had initially attempted to land in grozny twice, and was later offered other airport options within russia, but the pilot rerouted towards the kazakh city of aktau instead. for those on board, it was a terrifying physical and emotional ordeal. for a brief moment, passengers thought they were out of danger. but when the caspian sea appeared, the clouds dispersed and the plane began to behave unusually, rakhimov says, the feeling of tension began to increase, both for other passengers and for myself. while not acknowledging responsibil

official told cnn of mistaken identity with the russian city of grozny. the flight's intended destination under ukrainian drone attack at the time, ukraine's. ukrainian combat drones were mounting terrorist attacks on civil infrastructure in the cities of grozny and vladikavkaz. the head of russia's federal air transport agency said. due to this, in the area of the grozny airport, the coy wire plan was introduced, meaning all aircraft had to leave the indicated airspace immediately. russian aviation authorities claim the plane had initially attempted to land in grozny twice, and was later offered other airport options within russia, but the pilot rerouted towards the kazakh city of aktau instead. for those on board, it was a terrifying physical and emotional ordeal. for a brief moment, passengers thought they were out of danger. but when the caspian sea appeared, the clouds dispersed and the plane began to behave unusually, rahimov says, the feeling of tension began to increase, both for other passengers and for myself. while not acknowledging responsibil

came under fire from russian air defence systems as it tried to land in the southern russian city of groznyit later diverted to aktau airport in kazakhstan, where it crashed. 00:00:54,033 --> 2147483051:37:11,731 our russia editor steve rosenberg 2147483051:37:11,731 --> 4294966103:13:29,429 has more on the apology from moscow. vladimir putin apologises for a plane crash that killed 38 people but stops short of saying gaza's health ministry says medical staff are among hundreds of people in the north of the territory. and elon musk broadens his political influence beyond the us, february elections. hello, i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme. apologised to the leader of azerbaijan over what he called the "tragic incident" involving a passenger plane which crashed, killing 38 people on wednesday. he acknowledged that russia's air defences were "active" at the time but stopped short of saying his country was responsible. there's speculation that the azerbaijan airlines plane came under fire from russian air defence systems as it tried to land in the southern russian city of grozny. but n

officials say the plane was en route from baku, azerbaijan, to grozny in russia's chechnya region, but was rerouted due to fog. the plane reportedly belongs to azerbaijan airlines. the airline says there were 72 people on board. video online appears to show the plane hitting the ground at a fast rate of speed, before erupting into a fireball. right now, kazakhstan authorities say six people survived the plane crash. again, if you're just joining us, we are following breaking news out of central asia this morning where a large passenger plane has crashed in the kazakhstan city of aktau. the country is just south of russia. officials say the plane was in route from baku, azerbaijan, to grozny in russia's chechnya region, but was rerouted due to fog. the plane reportedly belongs to azerbaijan's airlines. the airline says there were 72 people on board. video online appears to show the plane hitting the ground at a fast rate of speed, before erupting into a fireball. right now, kazakhstan authorities say six people survived the plane crash. and we will bring you the latest information as we

there were 62 passengers and five crew on board this azerbaijan airlines flight from baku to grozny inrussia. amateur footage shows the pilot struggling to control the plane as it tries to land. the force of impact split the plane in two, with the front half destroyed by fire. the key question is why. i spoke to one military expert who said suggestions of a bird strike being responsible were unlikely. >> at the moment evidence is coming out, but most likely hypothesis is that it was struck by an air defense missile, most certainly russian can in the area over grozny where the plane was holding. ukrainian drones were active at the time, and this is commencement with everything raising with the pilot's communication. it's the only thing that fits the facts that we know. jonathan: these holes in the surviving part of the fuselage will be examined bite investigators f as a design airlines have suspended all flights in the region. they have not -- it suggests that the cause was not technical or mechanical. the aircraft has a good safety record. russia's government says no conclusion should

officials say the plane was en route from baku, azerbaijan, to grozny in russia's chechnya region, but was rerouted due to fog. and just into our newsroom is video of the crash. i must warn you, what you are about to see is difficult to watch. this new video appears to show the plane hitting the ground at a fast rate of speed, before erupting into a fireball. the ministry says there were 67 people on board. of those, 25 are believed to have survived, 42 are likely dead. the plane reportedly belongs to azerbaijan's airlines. again, if you are just joining us, we are following this breaking news out of central asia this morning where a large passenger plane has crashed in the kazakhstan city of aktau. the country is just south of russia. officials say the plane was en route from baku, azerbaijan, to grozny in russia's chechnya region, but was rerouted due to fog. the video appears to show the plane hitting the ground at a fast rate of speed, before erupting into a fireball. the ministry there says there were 67 people on board. of those, 25 are believed to still be alive and 42 are likel

there were 62 passengers and five crew on board this azerbaijan airlines flight from baku to grozny inthern russia. amateur footage shows the pilot struggling to control the plane as it tries to land. the force of impact split the plane in two, with the front half destroyed by fire. the key question is why. i spoke to one military expert who said suggestions of a bird strike being responsible were unlikely. at the moment, evidence is still coming out, but the most likely hypothesis we see is that it was struck by an air defence missile, almost certainly russian, in the area over grozny where the plane was holding. ukrainian drones were active at the time, and this is commensurate with everything we've seen in the pilot's communication with air traffic control. and currently it's the only thing that fully fits the facts that we know. these holes in the surviving part of the fuselage will be examined by investigators. meanwhile, azerbaijan airlines have suspended all flights in the region. they have not grounded their other six embraer e1905, suggesting the cause was not technical or mec

this was a simple flight that was supposed to take off from the city of baku in azerbaijan to grozny, the chechen area. and when it landed, crash landed, it was on the other side of the caspian sea in a very uncharacteristic diversion. and it sustained damage that, to experts such as richard aboulafia and others, do seem to be caused by shrapnel, not by engine failure, not by some kind of flock of birds. it is also very interesting that the russian spokesman, dmitry peskov, who tends to be very aggressive in defending russia in every possible way against any kind of accusation or even hint of any russian malfeasance, has been extremely cautious and he is saying, "well, let's wait for results." so i think the circumstantial evidence at the moment is not favourable to russia. it's early days. we have to wait, but i think this has been an area where the russians have been very nervous. the ukrainians have launched a number of drone attacks. the russians have been shooting at these drones, often wildly and recklessly. and it's almost miraculous that somehow so many of the people on board

the plane left baku for grozny but was diverted to aktau because of fog. russian government has cautioned against promoting "hypotheses" about the cause of the crash and urged people to wait for the outcome of an official investigation. our reporterjonathan josephs has been following the story. these are some of the survivors of a terrifying plane crash. pictures released by the russian government show nine of their citizens being evacuated to moscow for further medical treatment. they were among 62 passengers and five crew on board this azerbaijan airlines flight from baku to grozny in southern russia. amateur footage shows the pilot struggling to control the plane as it tries to land after being diverted to aktau in kazakhstan. the force of impact split the plane in two, with the front half destroyed by fire. the key question now is why. russia's aviation regulator says there was a bird strike, but military experts suggest the wreckage shows signs of something else. at the moment, evidence is still coming out but the most likely hypothesis we see is it w

and, you know, there was clearly drone activity, the fog of war was involved, surrounding grozny, the air defense units were responding, and this plane should have never been allowed to take off to fly to grozny. there was simply too much military activity taking place. but for the russians to acknowledge that to close the airspace would have been a tremendous loss of face. they want to minimize the ability of ukraine to disrupt their, their, their systems. so this is everything is building towards the explanation that the air defense units around grozny shot this plane down. >> yeah. >> and and to that point, a passenger spoke of this loud bang as the approach as the plane approached grozny. and then the plane, he says, quote, began to behave unnaturally. what does that tell you? >> well, it means that that a you know, these these anti-aircraft missiles explode in the proximity of their target and damage it severely. so the plane started to lose control. probably its hydraulics were damaged. the pilots began that struggle to to control it. and the passengers, everything that that we'

so, basically, the kremlin is blaming ukraine for attacking grozny airport with drones.t is the way i read it from what the kremlin has put out in that statement, that description of the conversation between the two presidents. steve, president putin never apologises for anything, though, and a lot of people will look at this statement and think is it as close that we will get to an admission that russia was responsible, given they said air defences were operational at the time? but what about the timing of this? there was a lot of pressure coming out of azerbaijan with people pointing the finger of blame very much at moscow. you are absolutely right, lucy. ever since this disaster, there has been growing evidence that the plane may well have been hit by a russian air defensive missiles. azerbaijan airlines said i think it was yesterday that the plane was subjected to external physical, and technical interference as well. you had america also yesterday saying they were early indications that the plane may have been shot, hit by a russian air defence system. so the eviden

the head of russia�*s aviation authority says the plane was unable land at grozny airport because of attack. 38 people died when the plane came down, two miles short of the runway, at aktau airport, in kazakhstan. anthony venetz used to be an airline pilot — and is also — a former air crash investigator and told us where the investigation goes from here. as is the case with all investigations come of this nature, the first thing is really about gathering factual information so of course we have a tendency to come up with some preliminary theories on what might�*ve happened. but, really, the basis of a good investigation is on gathering for factual information first. there�*ll be a lot of different sources of that information so details about planned flights, even you know, back runs on the aircraft itself, its maintenance records, the flight crew information about their qualifications and fatigued, not urological information at the time, so all that kind of background information... were going to be looking at information to do with what was going on route and in the flight path at t

of bad weather at grozny.a large body of water on the horizon. there are a huge number of rescue personnel involved. the kasatkina authorities said about 150 people —— the authorities from kazakhstan. it was broken into and the back cath is almost intact —— it was broken in two on the back half is almost intact. the people in the back survived more and in the front there was an explosion. there is some evidence in this field. the goal is to get evidence from the cockpit to piece together what happened and what the pilots were experiencing. we are looking at those pictures. the plane is broken and the back half is intact. what do we know about embraer? it is known as number three behind the two big companies, boeing and airbus. boeing has had lots of problems over the last few years. embraer had a pretty good safety wrecker. they normally have —— a good safety record. it has a range of about 2800 miles over... a top speed of 630 miles an hour used on shorterflights top speed of 630 miles an hour used on shorter

defence systems had been in operation at the time the azerbaijan airlines flight tried to land at groznyhe said the air defences were trying to repel a ukrainian drone attack. no explanation in the kremlin readout of that conversation as to why that plane was allowed anywhere near grozny airport if there was a ukrainian drone attack in the way the airspace hadn't been closed. to sum up what vladimir putin didn't say today was, yes, we did this, it was a russian missile that downed the plane, but this is the closest russia has come so far to admitting responsibility for the disaster. for more on this, i spoke earlier with andrew nicholson, the ceo of osprey flight solutions, a risk intelligence and management company. i asked him whether putin's statements clarify anything about the accident. it clarifies some details. it confirms that the incident happened in russian airspace but other than that it doesn't change our assessment. all of the indicators were there already that the scenario that appears to have played out was a russian aircraft activity. it misidentified the aircraft and sho

he had been traveling alone to visit his mother in grozny, russia. 29 people survived, some able to walk away from the wreckage, others in the hospital now speaking out. vafa shabanova saying about 20 or 30 minutes after takeoff she felt two explosions. a crew member says he heard three thuds above grozny and noticed he was injured. he says in the left arm, i don't know what touched me. i just looked and saw blood. but the conversation cut short, he says. i have to turn my phone off. they're not allowing me to speak. several airlines, including those from azerbaijan, dubai and israel's main carrier el al, have now suspended flights to russia. ines de la cuetara abc news, london. >> no word yet on who is holding the mega millions lottery ticket worth more than $1 billion. but the ows of the store that sold it are ready to cash in. the winning ticket was bought at a convenience store in cottonwood, a remote area just south of redding. the owners will get a $1 million retail bonus for selling the winning ticket. >> there was uncertainty, and so it was l

and the fact that the ukrainians probably were attacking grozny around the same time, it fits. and it's very possible for in a case like this, there to be a mistaken identity, especially if you don't deconflict the airspace, as we call it, in the air defense business. it's very important for air defense operators to be able to discern different types of targets, as they're now. and obviously, a commercial airliner has different characteristics from most unmanned aerial vehicles. but in this particular case, they mixed that up. at least that's the high likelihood of what happened. >> a lot of us, including you, jill, may be reminded of what happened with mh17 back in 2014. another commercial jetliner that was ultimately determined that it was a russian surface to air missile that shot this plane down. so given, you know, the fact that russia never acknowledged its responsibility in in that accident, how do you expect this investigation to play out? and what russia's role may or may not be in the investigation? >> you know, excuse me? it's hard to sorry was outside and it's a lit

this was a airline airliner going from baku to grozny. there was no reason for the russians to shoot it down. >> i also want to get your take on on another story that we're following out of the region, president biden. um, is calling russia's mass attack the latest mass attack, i should say, on ukraine's power grid, the one happening on christmas day, quote, outrageous, saying that its purpose was to cut off the ukrainian people's access to heat and electricity during winter. ukraine is reporting russia fired some 70 missiles, more than 100 drones in the dnipro and kharkiv regions. one person dead, wounded, at least six. as we look at that and where things stand, the biden administration is surging as much military aid right now to ukraine in the waning weeks of that administration, of course. um, what do you believe ukraine can achieve in terms of their defense prior to the change in leadership here in the united states, which we know is going to have an impact? >> yes. well, unfortunately, unless they get restocked with new munitions, t

the plane had been diverted by bad weather en route to grozny, in southern russia.erbaijan says experts will now look at all possible causes. translation: the reasons for the crash are not yet - known to us. there are various theories, but i believe it is premature to discuss them. a criminal case has been launched by the prosecutor general�*s office. president putin is sending in this plane, with specialist teams, to help. some of the passengers on the crashed aircraft were russian. it was made by the brazilian firm embraer, which has a robust safety record. it will now help with the investigation of a crash that both took, but also spared many lives. duncan kennedy, bbc news. reports from gaza say at least five journalists have been killed following an israeli airstrike on a vehicle outside al—awda hospital in the nuseirat refugee camp. this video — unverified by the bbc — shows a minibus with �*press' written on the doors. several others are believed to have been injured in the blast. in a seperate incident overnight, five people were killed and dozens injured af

the plane went down outside the city of aktau as it was was flying from the capital, baku, to groznyhnya. jonathan josephs reports. this dramatic amateur footage captures the moments just before the crash. the azerbaijan airlines plane seems to be descending with some speed, and at a steep angle. experts suggest the pilots were struggling for control as they approached aktau. they had been diverted because of bad weather at the original destination of grozny, in southern russia. the kazakh authorities say 150 emergency personnel were sent to the scene. the front half, including the wings and fuel tanks, were engulfed in fire. the force of the impact split the aircraft in two. the rear, despite coming to rest upside down, is mostly intact. some passengers remarkably walked away from what must have were engulfed in fire. the force of the impact split the aircraft in two. the rear, despite coming to rest upside down, is mostly intact. some passengers remarkably walked away from what must have been a horrifying experience. translation: at 11:30. information was received about a plane cra