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There was at least one loud bang - passenger

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I thought I was going to die - passenger

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Russian watchdog: flight diverted due to fog and drones

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Airline: cause of crash was 'external' interference

(Adds details on the crash, quotes, details from Russian

aviation watchdog)

By Gleb Stolyarov and Nailia Bagirova

BAKU, Dec 27 (Reuters) - A passenger on the Azerbaijan

Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters that

there was at least one loud bang as it approached its original

destination of Grozny in southern Russia.

Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near

the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of

southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence

systems against Ukrainian drones.

"I thought the plane was going to fall apart," Subhonkul

Rakhimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from hospital,

adding that he had begun to recite prayers and prepare for the

end after hearing the bang.

At least 38 people were killed while 29 people survived.

Russia has said it's important to wait for the official

investigation to finish its work to understand what happened.

Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings

of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on

Thursday that Russian air defences had

mistakenly shot it down

.

Azerbaijan Airlines suspended a host of flights to

Russian cities on Friday and said it considered the crash was

caused by what it termed "physical and technical external

interference".

After the loud bang, the plane had acted strangely as if it

was drunk, Rakhimov said.

"It was as if it was drunk - not the same plane anymore," he

said.

The Embraer ( ERJ ) passenger jet had flown from

Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern

Chechnya region, before veering off hundreds of miles across the

Caspian Sea.

It crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian after

what Russia's aviation watchdog said was an emergency that may

have been caused by a bird strike.

After the turmoil of the crash landing, there was silence

before the moaning of the injured began, Rakhimov said.

Asked about reports that Russian air defences had

mistakenly shot down the aircraft, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry

Peskov said on Friday he had nothing to add and did not want to

give any assessments until the official investigation made its

conclusions.

Rosaviatsia, Russia's aviation watchdog, said that the

captain of the plane had been offered other airports at which to

land, but had chosen Kazakhstan's Aktau. It said that it would

provide comprehensive support to Kazakh and Azerbaijani

investigations looking into the crash.