Thirty-eight people died when the Embraer jet came down at high speed, bursting into flames 3km (1.9 miles) short of the runway at Aktau airport.

The plane had originally tried to land at Grozny airport in southern Russia, but witnesses have spoken of an explosion before it was diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan.

The head of Russia’s civil aviation agency said on Friday that the situation in the Chechen capital was “very complicated” and that a closed-skies protocol had been put in place.

“Ukrainian combat drones were launching terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz,” said Dmitry Yadrov, head of Rosaviatsia, in a video statement posted on Russia’s Tass news agency.

“Because of this a ‘Carpet plan’ was introduced in the area of Grozny airport, providing for the immediate departure of all aircraft from the specified area,” he said. “In addition, there was dense fog in the area of Grozny airport.”

Azerbaijan Airlines did not detail the physical and technical interference, and the government in Baku has avoided directly accusing Russia, possibly to avoid antagonising President Vladimir Putin.

However, aviation experts and pro-government media in Azerbaijan believe the plane was damaged by shrapnel from Russian air-defence missile explosion.

“These are missile fragments that damaged the hydraulic system. The plane’s controls operate based on hydraulics,” veteran Azerbaijani pilot veteran pilot Tahir Agaguliev told Azerbaijani media.

Flight attendant Zulfuqar Asadov who was among 29 survivors on the crashed plane told local media that the plane was “hit by some kind of external strike”.

“The impact of it caused panic inside. We tried to calm them down, to get them seated. At that moment, there was another strike, and my arm was injured.

“In a social media post, Azerbaijan Airlines said it was suspending flights to seven Russian cities in response to the crash “for security reasons”.

It had already halted flights to Grozny and Makhachkala in neighbouring Dagestan, but has now added the cities of Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara and Mineralnye Vody.

Israel’s flagship airline, El Al, has meanwhile suspended all flights to Moscow, citing developments in Russian airspace.

Ukrainian presidential spokesman Andriy Yermak has said Russia must be held responsible for the crash.The Kremlin has refused to comment on reports that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was hit by Russian air defence.

“An investigation into this aviation incident is underway and until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation, we do not consider ourselves entitled to give any assessments,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Vigils have been held in Azerbaijan to honour the pilots, who are credited with saving lives by managing to land part of the plane, despite themselves being killed in the crash.

Kazakh authorities have been treating the injured and working closely with Azerbaijan on the investigation. However, they have refused to give details of their crash investigation.

Reports in Baku suggest both Russia and Kazakhstan proposed having a committee from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a regional organisation dominated by Russia – investigate the crash, but Azerbaijan had instead demanded an international inquiry rather than one involving former Soviet countries.

Footage of the wrecked fuselage appeared to indicate shrapnel damage and some aviation experts suggested the Azerbaijani Airlines plane may have been been hit by air defence systems over the Russian republic of Chechnya.

Before it went down near the Kazakh city of Aktau, the plane was diverted across the Caspian Sea, from its destination in Chechnya to western Kazakhstan.Twenty nine of the 67 people on board survived. Azerbaijan held a national day of mourning on Thursday for the victims of the crash.

“This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people,” President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It would be wrong to put forward any hypotheses before the investigation’s conclusions. We, of course, will not do this, and no-one should do this. We need to wait until the investigation is completed.”

The Embraer 190 aircraft took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Wednesday morning. It was due to fly to Grozny in Chechnya but it was diverted because of fog, the airline said.

A surviving passenger told Russian TV he believed the pilot had tried twice to land in dense fog over Grozny before “the third time, something exploded… some of the aircraft skin had blown out”.

The plane was redirected to Aktau airport, some 450km (280 miles) to the east. Footage shows the aircraft heading towards the ground at high speed 3km (1.9 miles) short of the runway, before bursting into flames as it lands.

Kazakh authorities have recovered the flight data recorder and an investigation in under way. Shortly after the crash, reports from Russian state-controlled TV said the most likely cause was a strike from a flock of birds.

But that kind of collision typically results in the plane gliding towards in the nearest airfield, aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia told Reuters news agency. “You can lose control of the plane, but you don’t fly wildly off course as a consequence,” he said.

Justin Crump of risk advisory company Sibylline said the pattern of damage inside and outside the plane indicated that Russian air defence active in Grozny may have caused the crash.

“It looks very much like the detonation of an air defence missile to the rear and to the left of the aircraft, if you look at the pattern of shrapnel that we see,” he told BBC Radio 4.

Authorities in the nearby Russian regions of Ingushetia and North Ossetia reported drone strikes on Wednesday morning.

The head of Kazakhstan’s senate, Ashimbayev Maulen, stressed that the cause of the crash was still unknown.”None of these countries – Azerbaijan, Russia or Kazakhstan – is interested in hiding information. All information will be made available to the public,” he said.

Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Video footage showed survivors crawling out of the wreckage, some with visible injuries. The injured are being treated in hospital and 11 are in intensive care, AFP news agency reported.Embraer, a Brazilian manufacturer, is a smaller rival to Boeing and Airbus, and has a strong safety record.

Kazakh authorities said 38 people were killed in the crash.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it attempted to make an emergency landing near the Kazakh city of Aktau.

The plane was en route to Grozny in Russia but it was diverted due to fog.

Footage shows the aircraft heading towards the ground at high speed with its landing gear down, before bursting into flames as it lands.

The airline said the plane “made an emergency landing” about 3km (1.9 miles) from Aktau.

It took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku at 03:55 GMT on Wednesday, and crashed around 06:28, data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.Unconfirmed reports from Russian media said the aircraft might have collided with a flock of birds before crashing.

Azerbaijan Airlines said flights between Baku and the Russian cities of Grozny and Makhachkala would be cancelled while an investigation into the incident was completed.

Officials said the plane’s black box flight recorder had been recovered.Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

A woman who was travelling to spend the holidays with her children in Chechnya, of which Grozny is the capital, died in the crash. One mother, travelling with medical tests for her sick child, is still missing.

A young woman shared her heartache with the BBC’s Azerbaijani service as she desperately tried to find out what happened to her father, who was on the flight.

She explained that her father had been travelling with his son, who survived the crash. The son managed to contact his sister, but there was still no news of their father.

Unverified video footage showed survivors crawling out of the wreckage, some with visible injuries.

Both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have launched investigations into the incident. Embraer told the BBC it was “ready to assist all relevant authorities”.

Embraer, a Brazilian manufacturer, is a smaller rival to Boeing and Airbus, and has a strong safety record.

Authorities in Azerbaijan, where the flight originated, say there were at least 30 survivors.Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it attempted to make an emergency landing near the Kazakh city of Aktau.

The plane was en route to Grozny in Russia but it was diverted due to fog, the airline said.

Footage shows the aircraft heading towards the ground at high speed with its landing gear down, before bursting into flames as it lands.

The airline said the plane “made an emergency landing” about 3km (1.9 miles) from Aktau.It took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku at 03:55 GMT on Wednesday, and crashed around 06:28, data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.

Reports from Russian media say the aircraft collided with a flock of birds before crashing, but this has not yet been confirmed.

Officials from the countries involved have stated different numbers for those who were on board and for those who survived.

The airline said 62 passengers and 5 crew members were on board the Embraer 190 but other reports put the total at 72. The reported number of survivors ranges from 28 to 32.

Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Unverified video footage showed survivors crawling out of the wreckage, some with visible injuries.Both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have launched investigations into the accident.

Embraer said that it was “ready to assist all relevant authorities”.

Embraer, a Brazilian manufacturer, is a smaller rival to Boeing and Airbus, and has a strong safety record.