The Azerbaijan Airlines plane flew hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Baku to Grozny, and crashed on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. Russia's aviation watchdog said a bird strike might have been the cause.

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.

New up-close images of the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines flight JS-8243 show the doomed flight appears to have been struck by numerous fragments or other similar objects before crash-landing in

Increasing analysis suggests Russian air defenses might have downed Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243, which crashed in a ball of fire near Aktau,Kazakhstan on Wednesday morning, killing 38 of 67 passengers and crew.

There are early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, a U.S. official told ABC News.

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Russia crashed, hospitalizing survivors while dozens are feared dead.

"No one claims that it was done on purpose," an Azerbaijan official told Reuters. They added their government "expects the Russian side to confess."

An Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on Christmas Day was “likely shot down by a Russian military air defence system,” a UK-based aviation security firm has said.

Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball.

A day after an Azerbaijani airliner’s crashed in Kazakhstan, aviation experts say the plane most likely went down after being hit by Russian air defense systems.

By Nailia Bagirova and Gleb Stolyarov BAKU (Reuters) -Russian air defences downed an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday.