An investigation into the deadly crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines flight in Kazakhstan earlier this week came after the passenger plane experienced “physical and technical external interference,” the carrier said Friday.

The Embraer 190 crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday, killing 38 of the 67 people on board while en route from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, Russia.

According to a U.S. official, early evidence indicated the plane may…