Sources told Reuters the plane had been hit by Russian fire. "It was as if it was drunk - not the same plane anymore," one passenger recalled.

An investigation into the deadly crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines flight in Kazakhstan earlier this week came after the passenger plane experienced “physical and technical external interference,” the carrier said Friday.

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Baku to the Chechnyan city of Grozny crashed Wednesday, killing 38. The plane flew hundreds of miles off its route and crashed on the wrong side of the Caspian Sea in Aktau,

A passenger jet operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian attack drones.

Azerbaijan’s flag carrier has announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports, citing potential flight safety risks following a crash of one of its planes that many experts have blamed

The flight was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s south, when it diverted and attempted an emergency landing in Kazakhstan.

The crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight prompted several airlines to suspend flights to Russia.

The national airlines of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have suspended some flights to Russia after evidence suggested an Azerbaijani plane had been downed by Russian air defence systems. The Kazakh airline,

Russia's aviation watchdog said on Friday that an Azerbaijan Airlines plane which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday had decided to reroute from its original destination in Chechnya amid dense fog and a local alert over Ukrainian drones.

Azerbaijan Airlines suspended more than half of its Russian schedule over safety concerns after a plane headed to Grozny this week was reportedly damaged by Russian air-defense systems before crashing as it attempted to land in Kazakhstan.