Plane crash caused by 'external physical interference': Azerbaijan Airlines

Azerbaijan Airlines has said that preliminary results showed that one of its planes which crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25 experienced "external physical and technical interference".

Friday's statement from the company came as a passenger on the ill-fated plane said there was at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.

Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian drones.

"I thought the plane was going to fall apart," Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers, said from hospital, adding that he had begun to recite prayers and prepare for the end after hearing the bang.

At least 38 people were killed while 29 people survived.

Russia has said it's important to wait for the official investigation to finish its work to understand what happened.

Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster said on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.

Azerbaijan Airlines suspended a host of flights to Russian cities on Friday and said it considered the crash was caused by what it termed "physical and technical external interference".