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Dozens of passengers are feared dead after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed nearby the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, reports say.
The Embraer 190 passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia had 62 passengers and five crew members on board, Kazakh authorities said, adding that 32 survivors had been rescued.
Flight J2-8243 flew hundreds of miles off its planned route to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea. Officials did not immediately explain why he flew over the sea, but the accident happened shortly after drone attacks hit southern Russia. Drone activity has closed airports in the area in the past, and the closest Russian airport in the plane’s flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Russia’s aviation watchdog said it was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike.
MORE THAN 30 DEAD IN A COLLISION BETWEEN A BUS AND A TRUCK IN BRAZIL
In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of the Mangystau region, the wreckage of an Embraer 190 of an Azerbaijani airliner lies on the ground near Aktau Airport, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (Administration of the Mangystau region/photo AP)
There were 42 citizens of Azerbaijan on the plane, 16 Russian citizens, six Kazakh and three Kyrgyz nationals, according to Kazakh officials.
Russian news agency Interfax reported that both pilots died in the crash, citing a preliminary assessment by emergency workers at the scene. The news agency also quoted medical workers as saying that four bodies had been recovered from the accident so far.
A total of 29 survivors, including two children, were hospitalized, the ministry told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, the Associated Press reports. Many passengers have not yet been found.
More than 30 are feared dead in an accident near the Kazakh city of Aktau. (Azamat Sarsenbayev/AP Photo)
Video of the crash showed the plane descending rapidly before bursting into flames when it hit the seashore, followed by thick black smoke, Reuters reported. Bloody and battered passengers could be seen staggering against a piece of the hull that remained intact.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was traveling to Russia, returned to Azerbaijan after hearing the news of the accident, the president’s press service said. Aliyev was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a bloc of former Soviet countries formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St. Petersburg.
Emergency crews at the crash site of an Azerbaijani airliner on December 25, 2024. (Azamat Sarsenbayev/AP Photo)
In a statement on social networks, Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
“With deep sadness, I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery,” he wrote.
He also signed a decree declaring December 26 a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
The plane was on its way from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus, reports the Associated Press. (Administration of the Mangystau region/photo AP)
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In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep the public informed and changed its social media signage to solid black.
“We ask God for mercy for the passengers and crew members who lost their lives,” it was translated statement about X said. “Their pain is also our pain. We wish the injured a speedy recovery.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
