An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people on board crashed Wednesday near the Kazakh city of Aktau, killing 38 people and 29 survivors, a Kazakh official said.
Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev disclosed these figures during a meeting with Azerbaijani officials, reported the Russian news agency Interfax.
The Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus when it was diverted trying to make an emergency landing about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau, Azerbaijan Airlines said.
Speaking at a press conference, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said that it is too soon to speculate on the reasons for the accident, but he said that the weather forced the plane to change its planned route.
“The information given to me is that the plane changed its route between Baku and Grozny due to bad weather and headed for Aktau Airport, where it crashed where it is landing,” he said.
Russia's aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said preliminary information indicated that the pilots diverted to Aktau after the bird strike that led to the emergency.
A crashed Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near Aktau Airport, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, December 25, 2024.
AP Photo/Azamat Sarsenbayev
According to Kazakh officials, 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstans were on board the plane. Azerbaijan's chief prosecutor's office earlier said 32 of the 67 people on board survived the crash, but told reporters that the number was not final. The Associated Press could not immediately reconcile the difference between the numbers of survivors provided by Kazakh and Azerbaijani officials.
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Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the plane making a descent before crashing to the ground in a fireball. Some pictures show part of its fuselage torn from the wings and the rest of the plane, lying face up in the grass. The images were consistent with the aircraft's colors and registration number.
Some videos posted on social media show survivors dragging other passengers away from the accident.
Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed that the plane made what appeared to be a right-hand yaw as it approached Aktau Airport, its altitude rising and falling dramatically in the final minutes of the flight before touching down.
FlightRadar24 separately said in an online post that the plane experienced “strong GPS pressure,” which “caused the plane to transmit bad ADS-B data,” referring to the information that allows flight-tracking websites to track planes in flight. Russia has been accused in the past of interfering with GPS transmissions over a wide area.
In this photo taken from a video released by Mangystau district administration, the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near Aktau airport, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, December 25, 2024.
Mangystau District Administration through AP
Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public informed and change its social media banners to black. It also said it would suspend flights between Baku and Grozny, and between Baku and the city of Makhachkala in Russia's North Caucasus, until its investigation into the accident is completed.
Azerbaijan's news agency, Azertac, said an official delegation of Azerbaijan's emergency minister, the deputy chief prosecutor and the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines were sent to Aktau to conduct an “on-site investigation.”
Aliyev, who was on his way to Russia, returned to Azerbaijan when he heard news of the accident, the presidential press service said. He was supposed to attend an informal meeting of the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the branch of former Soviet states established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St.
Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media. “It is with great sadness that I offer my condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery,” he wrote.
He also signed a declaration announcing December 26 as a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the phone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Speaking at the CIS meeting in St.
Authorities in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia say they are investigating the crash. Embraer told The Associated Press in a statement that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”
Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
