A French aviation expert said that the crash in Aktau on Christmas Day was “reminiscent” of the Malaysian Airlines flight which was downed by a Buk surface-to-air missile by Russia-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine a decade ago, killing all 298 people on board.

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.