In Kazakhstan, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes, 32 survivors out of 67 people on board

AVIATION – The images bear witness to the violence of the crash. This Wednesday, December 25, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in western Kazakhstan, near the city of Aktau, a port on the Caspian Sea. According to initial information from local emergency services, there were 62 passengers and five crew members on board, and among them, 32 people could be found alive and treated.

The aircraft, an Embraer 190, was flying between Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, and Grozny, capital of the Russian Caucasian republic of Chechnya. “The airliner crashed near Aktau. This plane belongs to the airline Azerbaijan Airlines »confirmed the Kazakh Ministry of Transport.

As you can see in our video at the top of the articleon images published on social networks and relayed by Russian and local media, we understand that the plane hits the ground, a gigantic fire immediately breaking out. After the crash, “the plane caught fire”confirmed the Kazakh Ministry of Emergency Situations, specifying that it had dispatched 150 rescuers to the scene.

After the tragedy, Azerbaijan Airlines indicated that its aircraft “made an emergency landing”.

The causes of the tragedy remain unknown

According to the Flightradar2 service, which allows the movement of planes to be monitored in real time, the aircraft crossed the Caspian Sea, deviating from its normal route, before circling above the area where it crashed. .

After the toll has been raised several times with regard to the number of survivors taken care of by the emergency services, the Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office communicated at midday Paris time, explaining that « according to information available to (he), 32 people survived » at the crash. This means that we have no news of the other 35 passengers.

Concerning the 62 passengers present at takeoff, the Kazakh Ministry of Transport communicated on the nationalities, explaining that “according to initial information, there were 37 Azerbaijani nationals, six Kazakh nationals, three Kyrgyz citizens and 16 Russian citizens” on board the device. However, no information has yet been communicated regarding the identity of the people rescued.

As for the causes of the tragedy, uncertainty still reigns. Azerbaijan Airlines initially claimed that the plane had hit a flock of birds, before withdrawing this information. For its part, the regional department of the Kazakh Ministry of Health reported, in a press release, a “balloon explosion” on board the aircraft, without further details.

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