Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images
An oxygen tank on the Azerbaijan Airlines flight exploded before the plane crash, Kazakhstan's transport minister said.
It adds a little more detail to the series of events leading to the fiery crash landing of the Embraer 190 on Christmas Day that killed 38.
The minister, Marat Karabayev, did not say definitively that the oxygen-tank explosion was a direct cause of the crash.
He also did not say why it exploded. Analysts have blamed Russia, saying it likely fired an air-defense missile at the plane by mistake.
The plane was bound for Russia from Azerbaijan — but veered off course after sustaining some kind of damage, crossing the Caspian Sea to crash-land at the airport in Aktau, Kazakhstan.
At a press briefing Thursday, Karabayev said Kazakh authorities heard of the disaster from a Russian air-traffic controller. They said an oxygen cylinder had exploded in the passenger cabin of the aircraft, and that some passengers were losing consciousness.
Karabayev said this triggered an emergency response in Aktau. Rescuers were quickly on the scene and managed to rescue 29 of the 67 passengers.
The plane departed from Baku, Azerbaijan, early Wednesday, heading for Grozny, Russia.
Business Insider reported Thursday, citing reports from Euronews and The New York Times, that Azerbaijani investigators believed Russia shot the plane down.
Those sources pointed to a Russian Pantsir-S air-defense system.
Russia has said the plane diverted after a bird strike, and denied playing a role — an explanation analysts were swift to dismiss.
Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation security firm, said in an alert sent to its clients and shared with BI that the flight was "likely shot down by a Russian military air-defense system of unspecified type/variant over the North Caucasus Federal District."
Kazakhstan's transport ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comments.
