What we know about the accident of Azerbaijan Airlines

According to the surviving passengers, dense fog entered as the plane approached Grozny.

They describe the pilot attempting to land the plane twice under these conditions.

According to the survivors, on the third attempt, they felt a series of explosions on the plane.

“For the third time, something exploded… part of the plane’s skin exploded,” one told Russian television.

Flight attendant Zulfugar Asadov told local media that the impact of the strike “caused internal panic”.

“We tried to calm (passengers) and make them sit down. At that time, there was another blow, my arm was injured,” he said.

A video taken by a passenger during the flight shows oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling.

Azerbaijan’s Minister of Transport Rashad Nabiyev said: “All survivors without exception said that they heard three explosions while the plane was over Grozny.”

He said the plane was hit by “external interference” while trying to land and was damaged inside and out.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has been targeting Chechnya and other parts of the Caucasus with drones.

After the crash, Moscow officials said that such attacks had prompted a protocol to close the airspace over Grozny.

A drone was shot down by air defenses that morning over a shopping center in Vladikavkaz, in nearby North Ossetia, local officials said.

It is not known whether the closed airspace protocol, known as the “carpet plan,” was in effect while or before flight J2-8243 was in Russian airspace.