By Maria Gordeyeva
ASTANA (Reuters) – An Embraer passenger jet flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday with 67 people and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, adding that 12 people survived.
Unconfirmed video of the crash showed the plane, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, bursting into flames as it hit the ground and thick black smoke then rising.
The Asian country's emergency service said in a statement that fire services had extinguished the fire and survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital.
Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190, with flight number J2-8243, was flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya, but had to make an emergency landing about three kilometers (1.8 miles) from in Kazakh city. Aktau.
Russian media said the flight was diverted due to fog in Grozny.
Authorities in Kazakhstan said they have begun looking into various versions of what happened, including a technical fault, Russia's Interfax reported.