Fuselage of Embraer 190 airliner shows clear signs of missile impact

The fuselage of the Embraer 190 airliner of Azerbaijan Airlines showed signs of SAM detonation. The damage can be seen in the videos that have just appeared online.

One of the videos shows the footage made from inside the aircraft as it was still airborne. The video shows damage to one of the engines as passengers are all sitting quiet with oxygen masks on.

Another video, made after the crash, shows shrapnel-like damage on the debris of the crashed airplane.

Military blogger Voevoda Veschat saw signs of a missile explosion on the fuselage of the Embraer aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines.

"Does this look like a missile explosion? I can definitely answer — yes, it does. This is exactly what the skin of the aircraft looks like after a missile explosion," he wrote.

However, he did not claim that it was a missile impact that caused the air crash.

Another blogger, Rybar, shares a similar opinion. The damage visible on the fuselage resembles that of an anti-aircraft missile. Chechnya saw a drone attack in the morning of December 25. Drone attacks were repelled at the time when the aircraft was approaching Grozny for landing, Rybar suggested.

There were 67 people on board the plane, including 16 citizens of Russia, 37 of Azerbaijan, 6 of Kazakhstan and 3 of Kyrgyzstan. According to most recent reports, 29 people survived the plane crash; their condition is assessed as serious and moderate.