An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in western Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 67 people on board, authorities said, reporting 32 survivors. A previous report reported 28 survivors.
The aircraft, an Embraer 190, was flying between Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, and Grozny, capital of the Russian Caucasian republic of Chechnya, according to Azerbaijan Airlines.
It crashed near the town of Aktau, a Caspian port in western Kazakhstan, according to the Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry.
In videos published by Russian media, we see the plane hit the ground, a gigantic fire immediately breaking out.
Other images show the plane on the ground, partially charred, the front of the aircraft having been completely destroyed.
After the crash, “the plane caught fire”, said the Kazakh Ministry of Emergency Situations, specifying that it had dispatched 150 rescuers to the scene.
“According to available information, 32 people survived” in the crash, announced the Azerbaijani Prosecutor's Office.
“All possible scenarios”
“We cannot disclose the results of the investigation at this time. All possible scenarios are being examined, and the necessary expertise is underway,” he stressed, specifying that a team of Azerbaijani investigators went to Kazakhstan and “works on site”.
For its part, the Kazakh Interior Ministry announced the opening of an investigation into “violation of air transport safety and operational rules”.
According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 62 passengers and five crew members were on board the plane which “made an emergency landing” about three kilometers from Aktau.
“According to initial information, there were 37 Azerbaijani nationals, six Kazakh nationals, three Kyrgyz citizens and 16 Russian citizens” on board the aircraft, said the Kazakh Ministry of Transport.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who arrived in Russia to participate in an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) near St. Petersburg (northwest) with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, decided to interrupt his visit and urgently return to Azerbaijan, according to the press service of the Azerbaijani presidency.
Condolences
“I offer my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this crash (…) and wish a speedy recovery to the injured”said Mr. Aliev, in a message on social networks.
He also ordered to take “urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster”according to the press service of the Azerbaijani presidency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, according to the Kremlin.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov assured him, on Telegram, “pray to God for healing” injured people.
The origins of the crash were not immediately known. 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.
According to the Flightradar24 service, which tracks the movement of planes in real time, the aircraft crossed the Caspian Sea, deviating from its normal route, before circling above the area where it crashed. .
Kazakhstan crash avion
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