An Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 62 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying that 28 people had survived.
Unverified video of the crash showed the plane, which was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, bursting into flames as it hit the ground and thick black smoke then rising.
Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact in other videos on social media.
The Central Asian country’s emergencies ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that the survivors, including three children, were being treated at a nearby hospital.
Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 aircraft, with flight number J2-8243, had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechnya, but had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau.
In a new post on X, the airline said, “There were 67 people on board, including 62 passengers and 5 crew members. There were no children among the passengers, and information about the injured will be provided shortly.
“According to the information, there are survivors who are receiving initial medical assistance.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed his sadness and extended his “heartfelt condolences” to President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan over the loss of precious lives in the crash, in a post on X.
“Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and we wish a swift recovery to the injured. Pakistan stands with Azerbaijan in this hour of grief,” the post said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also expressed his condolences to the Azerbaijani president, over the loss of life in the plane crash, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev was forced to leave St Petersburg (where he had a summit). Putin has already called him and expressed his condolences in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijani plane in Aktau,” Peskov said.
“We deeply sympathise with those who lost their relatives and friends in this plane crash and wish a speedy recovery to all those who managed to survive.”
Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into different possible versions of what had happened, including a technical problem, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.
Following the crash, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, was returning home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.
