Dozens of passengers are feared dead after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed nearby in the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, reports say.
An Embraer 190 passenger jet flying from Azerbaijan to Russia had 62 passengers and five crew members on board, Kazakh authorities announced, adding that 32 survivors had been rescued.
Flight J2-8243 had traveled hundreds of kilometers from its intended route to crash on the shore across the Caspian Sea. Officials did not immediately explain why it crossed the ocean, but the crash came shortly after. to strike with a plane hit the southern part of Russia. Drone activity has closed airports in the area in the past and the nearest Russian airport on the flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.
However, Russian air traffic controllers said it was an accident that may have been caused by a bird strike.
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In this photo taken from a video released by the Mangystau airport administration, the wreckage of the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 landed near Aktau airport, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (Mangystau District Administration/AP Photo)
Those on the plane included 42 citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 citizens of Russia, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani citizens, according to Kazakhstani officials.
Russian news agency Interfax reported that both pilots died in the crash, citing an initial assessment by emergency workers at the scene. The news agency also quoted medical personnel as saying that four bodies have been recovered so far.
A total of 29 survivors, including two children, were hospitalized, the agency told the Russian state news agency, RIA Novosti, the Associated Press reported. Many passengers have never been reported.
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More than 30 people are feared dead after an accident near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau. (Azamat Sarsenbayev/AP Photo)
Video of the crash shows the plane descending rapidly before bursting into flames as it hit the beach, with thick black smoke rising, Reuters reported. Bloodied and wounded passengers were seen stumbling out of the intact fuselage.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was visiting Russia, returned to Azerbaijan when he heard the news of the accident, the presidential press service said. Aliyev was due to attend an informal meeting of the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a group of former Soviet Union states formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St. Petersburg.
Emergency workers at the crash site of an Azerbaijani airliner on December 25, 2024. (Azamat Sarsenbayev/AP Photo)
Aliyev offered his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media.
“It is with deep 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 decree announcing that December 26 is a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
The plane was traveling from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus, the Associated Press reported. (Mangystau District Administration/AP Photo)
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In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep the public updated and change its social media banners to solid black.
“We ask God for mercy on the passengers and crew who lost their lives,” translated the statement about X said. “Their pain is our pain. We wish the injured a speedy recovery.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.