Kazakhstan officials say 38 people have died after an Azerbaijani airliner crashed near the city of Aktau

A picture of the scene following the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft carrying 67 passengers from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, in the Chechnya region of Russia, near the Kazakh Caspian city of Aktau on December 25

Moscow (AP):According to a Kazakh official, an Azerbaijani airplane carrying 67 passengers crashed Wednesday close to the Kazakh city of Aktau, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors.

According to the Russian news agency Interfax, Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev revealed the numbers during a meeting with Azerbaijani officials.

Three kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau, the Embraer 190 was diverted and made an emergency landing attempt while it was traveling from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, a city in the North Caucasus region of Russia, according to Azerbaijan Airlines.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated during a press conference that the weather had compelled the jet to deviate from its intended path, but that it was too soon to speculate on the cause of the tragedy.

“The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he stated.

Preliminary data indicated that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird hit caused an emergency on board, according to Rosaviatsia, Russia’s civil aviation regulator.

42 people of Azerbaijan, 16 citizens of Russia, 6 Kazakhs, and 3 citizens of Kyrgyzstan were on board the aircraft, according to Kazakh officials. 32 of the 67 passengers on board survived the crash, according to Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general’s office, however they informed reporters that the figure was not definitive.

Officials from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan provided different counts of survivors, which the Associated Press was unable to quickly reconcile.

Online, mobile phone footage seems to show the plane descending sharply before crashing into the ground in a flame. Other footage showed the plane laying upside down in the grass with a portion of its fuselage torn away from the wings and the remainder of the aircraft. The video matched the plane’s registration number and colors.

Videos of survivors pulling other passengers away from the wreckage were shared on social media.

The plane made what looked like a figure eight as it got closer to the Aktau airport, according to flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com. Its altitude fluctuated significantly in the final minutes of the flight before hitting the ground.

In a separate online post, FlightRadar24 said that the aircraft had experienced “strong GPS jamming,” which “made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data,” which is the data that enables flight-tracking websites to track airplanes while they are in flight. In the past, Russia has been held accountable for interfering with GPS signals in the surrounding area.

Azerbaijan Airlines altered its social media banners to solid black and promised to keep the public informed. Additionally, it announced that until the conclusion of its inquiry into the disaster, flights between Baku and Grozny and Baku and Makhachkala in Russia’s North Caucasus will be suspended.

According to Azertac, the country’s official news agency, a delegation comprising the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines, the deputy general prosecutor, and the minister of emergency circumstances was dispatched to Aktau to carry out a “on-site investigation.”

After learning about the incident, Aliyev, who was on his way to Russia, returned to Azerbaijan, according to the president’s press office. In St. Petersburg, he was scheduled to join an unofficial gathering of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a group of former Soviet nations established following the fall of the Soviet Union.

In a social media statement, Aliyev offered his sympathies to the victims’ families. “It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured,” the politician wrote.

Additionally, he signed an order designating December 26 as a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin called Aliyev and offered his condolences.

Putin also stated during the CIS meeting in St. Petersburg that Russia’s Emergency Ministry has dispatched a plane to Kazakhstan with medical personnel and equipment to help with the crash’s aftermath.

Authorities from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan declared they were looking into the crash. According to a statement provided to The Associated Press, Embraer said the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”

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