Pilots Died with Dozens of Others in Christmas Day Plane Crash, but They Helped Half of the Passengers Survive

• The president of Azerbaijan Airlines said the heroism of the two pilots, who were among the dozens who died in a Dec. 25 plane crash in Kazakhstan, “will never be forgotten”
• A Ukrainian official and an aviation security firm said that the incident may have been caused by antiaircraft fire from Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported
• Russia cautioned against any theories about the crash until investigators have concluded their work

The head of Azerbaijan Airlines is praising the actions of two pilots who were among 38 killed on a doomed flight that crashed as it made an emergency landing in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Dec. 25.

Despite the death toll, dozens of other passengers survived the crash, whose cause remains under investigation.

Speaking to journalists in the aftermath of the Christmas Day incident, Azerbaijan Airlines’ president, Samir Rzayev, credited the pilots’ actions for saving 29 others aboard the plane.

“Unfortunately, two of our experienced pilots and one guide lost their lives in the accident,” Rzayev said, according to the Azerbaijani news agency Report and Business Insider. “Their heroism will never be forgotten.”

“While this tragic accident brought a significant loss to our nation,” Rzayev continued, “the crew’s valiant dedication to their duties until the last moment and their prioritization of human life have immortalized their names in history.”

Azerbaijan Airlines has said that one of their Embraer 190 aircraft, flying on the Baku-Grozny route, made an emergency landing approximately 2 miles from the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

At the time of the flight, the plane carried 67 people — including 62 passengers and five crew members.

“Contacts are being established with the Kazakh authorities, and the necessary operational support is being provided by Kazakhstan’s emergency rescue agencies at the scene,” Azerbaijan Airlines said in its statement.

The airline also said the survivors were receiving medical assistance. 

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev separately commented on the tragedy, saying: “I pray for Allah’s mercy upon those who lost their lives in the plane crash. I extend my condolences and pray for patience for their families and loved ones.”

“This is a great tragedy, a significant loss for the people of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said.

He said a commission has been created to investigate the crash.

Based on the information provided to him, Aliyev said that the plane “changed its course due to worsening weather conditions and began heading toward Aktau airport, where the crash occurred during landing.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials and aviation experts theorized that the crash was possibly caused by antiaircraft fire from Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported — a view that has been played down by the Kremlin.

“Video of the wreckage and the circumstances around the airspace security environment in southwest Russia indicates the possibility the aircraft was hit by some form of antiaircraft fire,” Matt Borie, chief intelligence officer at aviation-security firm Osprey Flight Solutions, told the newspaper.

In a post on X, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote of suspicions that Russia had a role in the incident. 

“This morning, an Embraer 190 aircraft of an Azerbaijani airline, flying from Baku to Grozny, was shot down by a Russian air defense system,” Kovalenko wrote. “However, admitting this is inconvenient for everyone, so efforts will be made to cover it up, even the holes in the remaining parts of the aircraft. There is also video footage from inside the plane during the flight, showing punctured life vests and other damage. ”

“Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny but failed to do so,” Kovalenko continued. “The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of being urgently landed in Grozny to save lives.”

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters that as the crash is being investigated, “it would be incorrect to make any hypotheses before the investigation comes to conclusions,” NBC News reported. 

“We definitely cannot do it and no one should do it,” Peskov said.

PEOPLE contacted Russia’s presidential press office and Azerbaijan Airlines on Thursday, Dec. 26, for additional comment. 

Aliyev, in his remarks, also cautioned against premature speculation about the cause of the plane’s crash.

“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,” he said. “There are various theories, but I believe it is premature to discuss them. The matter must be thoroughly investigated.”

Rzayev, the Azerbaijan Airlines president, has said that the plane’s black box has been recovered.

He said that the plane underwent an overhaul in October, passed a technical inspection and the pilots had logged more than 15,000 flight hours, according to Report.

“The survivors will be brought back to the country,” Rzayev told reporters, adding, “The bodies of those who lost their lives will be returned within two days. May God have mercy on those who died, and we wish a speedy recovery to the survivors.”