An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan’s Aktau Airport close to the Caspian Sea on Wednesday morning, Kazakh authorities said, with up to 39 people feared dead, Abcnews reports.
According to the report by Abcnews, the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft was was flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, the Transport Ministry said in a post to its official Telegram channel. It was rerouted to Aktau in Kazakhstan due to fog in Grozny, Russian news agencies reported.
“According to preliminary information from the Azerbaijani side, there were 62 passengers and five crew members on board,” the Transport Ministry said.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a post to Telegram that 28 people survived the crash, with many hospitalized. Two children were among those hospitalized, the ministry said.
Kazakhstan’s deputy health minister told ABC News that some of those taken to hospital are in critical condition.
Kazakh authorities have initiated an investigation into the crash, focusing on reported bird strike, mechanical failure and the decision to reroute the flight due to adverse weather conditions, Kazakh aviation authorities told ABC News.
Among the passengers were 37 Azerbaijani citizens, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia, the Transport Ministry said, citing “preliminary data.”
Azerbaijan Airlines said in a post to X that the aircraft “made an emergency landing” around 2 miles from Aktau. The aircraft was an Embraer 190 model with flight number J2-8243.