RUSSIA downed a passenger plane over Kazakhstan on Christmas Day killing 38 in a fireball crash, according to government sources. An initial investigation by the Azerbaijani government reportedly

Kazakh media that an oxygen tank had exploded on board the Azerbaijan Airlines plane after a bird strike before the deadly crash. They claimed that flyers had started to fall unconscious before the flight crashed.

At least thirty-eight people were killed after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane bound for Russia crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas morning, a Kazakh official said, adding that 29 others, including two children, survived the disaster. Investigators continue to work to determine what caused the crash.

Kazakh authorities have recovered the flight data recorder and an investigation is 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.

A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia with 67 people on board crashed in Kazakhstan Wednesday, authorities said.

An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday killing 38 people was shot down by a Russian air defence system, according to four sources in Azerbaijan familiar with the investigation.

The head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council's Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, also claimed that the crash was caused by the Russian air defence fire.

Several passenger plane crashes have occurred worldwide this year, including a Wednesday morning Azerbaijan Airlines wreck that has left dozens feared dead.

There are early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, a U.S. official told ABC News.

The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 flight left Baku, Azerbaijan, on Christmas to Grozny, Russia. Instead, the plane crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan.

An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan's Aktau Airport close to the Caspian Sea on Wednesday morning.