Tragedy Strikes: Over 60 on Board as Azerbaijan Plane Crashes in Kazakhstan
Over 20 passengers survived while dozens of others were feared dead after a plane carrying over 60 people crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, reports said on Wednesday, citing Kazakh Emergencies Ministry. The plane reportedly crashed near the Aktau airport.
The Azerbaijan Airlines plane was en route from Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya but was rerouted due to fog in Grozny, Russian news agencies said, adding that the aircraft had been rerouted due to fog at its scheduled destination. Follow Kazakhstan plane crash LIVE updates
At least 25 passengers survived in the plane crash, Kazakhstan authorities said. A confirmation on the number of fatalities was awaited, however, officials cited in an Associated Press report said 42 people were likely dead.
Purported visuals, claimed to be of the crash, surfaced on social media, showing an aircraft crashing to the ground and turning into a fireball. Other visuals showed first responders near the broken remains of the plane, seemingly trying to retrieve survivors.
Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 with flight number 8243 was carrying 62 people and five crew members, reports said, adding that it had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau.
The number of people onboard was varying across reports. Authorities in Kazakhstan said the cause of the incident, including a possible technical problem, was being ascertained. Kazakhstan’s emergencies ministry later said that fire services had put out the fire that broke out after the crash and that survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital.
In another recent deadly plane crash, 10 people died on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed into a Brazilian town that’s popular with tourists. The 10 deceased were passengers and crew on board.
More than a dozen people on the ground were injured in the incident, Brazil’s Civil Defence Agency said. The agency in a post on X said the plane hit the chimney of a home and then the second floor of a building before crashing into a mobile phone shop in a largely residential neighbourhood of Gramado. More than a dozen people who were on the ground were taken to hospitals with injuries including smoke inhalation, with two said to be in critical condition.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. Local media reported that the passengers were members of the same family and were travelling to Sao Paulo state from another town in Rio Grande do Sul state.
A preliminary probe into the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner near Kazakhstan, suggests that a bird collision might have played a role in the emergency which led to the crash in which at least 35 people are feared dead, Reuters reported quoting Russia’s aviation watchdog. “Preliminary: after a collision with birds, due to an emergency on board, its commander decided to ‘go’ to an alternate airfield – Aktau was chosen,” Russia’s aviation watchdog said on Telegram.
The aircraft, which was flying from Azerbaijan’s Baku to Russia’s Grozny crashed with 62 passengers and five crew members on board. As per Kazakh authorities, 32 survivors, including two children, were rescued.
Azerbaijan Airlines plane was forced to make emergency landing
Azerbaijan Airlines confirmed that the flight had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately 3 kilometres (1.8 miles) from Aktau, and officials did not immediately provide an explanation for why the plane had crossed the Caspian Sea. However, the crash occurred shortly after drone strikes targeted southern Russia, and a nearby Russian airport had been closed due to ongoing drone activity, Reuters reported.
This raised questions about whether airspace restrictions might have played a role in the jet’s emergency diversion.
Authorities in Kazakhstan said a government commission had been set up to investigate what had happened and its members were ordered to fly to the site and ensure that the families of the dead and injured were getting the help they needed.
Russian Prez Putin expresses condolences
President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences as did Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, who had decided to return home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, his office said.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said some of those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.
