The White House said early indications from the plane crash in Kazakhstan indicated it was downed by a Russian anti-aircraft system, confirming initial statements by US officials.

“We have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that the plane was shot down by Russian air defense systems,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

“There is an investigation underway right now,” involving Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, Kirby said. “We have offered our assistance in this investigation if they need it.”

Azerbaijan Airlines announced on Friday that the preliminary results of the investigation showed that the aircraft of flight J2-8243 that crashed in Kazakhstan had an “external physical and technical intervention”. Azerbaijan Airlines suspended several flights to Russian cities on Friday.

Russia was also “pointed” by both Azerbaijani government sources and American officials, citing the first findings of the investigations.

Meanwhile, a passenger on the plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters that at least one loud bang was heard as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.

“I thought the plane was going to break up,” Sabhonkul Rakimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from the hospital, adding that he had started praying and preparing for the end after hearing the crash.

After the loud bang, the plane behaved strangely as if it was “drunk,” Rakimov said.

Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday near the Kazakh city of Aktau as the flight diverted from an area of ​​southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defense systems against Ukrainian drones. At least 38 people were killed while 29 people survived.

Four sources familiar with the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the crash told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defenses downed the plane by mistake.

The Embraer passenger jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, south of Chechnya in Russia, before diverting hundreds of miles into the Caspian Sea. The first explanation was damage to the engines due to a flock of birds.