Passenger on crashed plane says there was at least one loud bang before the crash

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 Grozny in southern Russia.

"I thought the plane was going to fall apart," Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from hospital, adding that he began to recite prayers and prepare for the end.

After the loud bang, the plane acted strangely as if it was drunk, he said.

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.

(Reporting by Reuters and Gleb Stolaryov in Tbilisi; writing by Guy Faulconbridge)

((guy.faulconbridge@thomsonreuters.com; Telephone +79856400243;))