Dozens dead as passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan

 Dozens dead as passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan

At least 38 people are dead and another 29 injured after an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan's Aktau Airport, which is close to the Caspian Sea. It happened Wednesday morning local time, a spokesperson from the Kazakhstan Ministry of Emergency Situations told ABC News.

The Dozens Dead as Passenger Plane Crashes in Kazakhstan Transport Ministry said in a post to its official Telegram channel that the aircraft, flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, was diverted to Aktau in Kazakhstan due to fog in Grozny, Russian news agencies reported.

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Emergency Situations told ABC News the plane was carrying 69 people -- 64 passengers and five crew members. The ministry said 29 people survived the crash, with many hospitalized, including two children.

 

Kazakhstan's deputy health minister told ABC News that some of those taken to hospital are in critical condition.

 

The Ministry of Emergency Situations posted on Telegram Wednesday that "the list of dead and injured is being finalized. "

READ MORE: Kazakhstan plane crash reason

According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Emergency Situations, preliminary reports say the crash might have been caused by a bird strike leading to engine failure - for which an emergency landing was attempted.

During a Wednesday press briefing, however, officials announced that a criminal case had been launched by the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan regarding the facts of the crash.

Kazakhstan passenger plane crash

At least 38 people were killed when a passenger jet headed for Russia crashed in Kazakhstan in an incident that Ukraine officials and aviation experts said was likely caused by Russian antiaircraft fire.

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane took off from Baku, Azerbaijan, bound for Grozny, Russia, and changed course over the area where Moscow's air defenses have clashed with Ukrainian drones in recent weeks. The flight 62 passengers and five crew members on board crashed near the coastal city of Aktau in western Kazakhstan after making a U-turn and flying east over the Caspian Sea. As many as 29 passengers survived.

Kazakhstan plane crash death

Dozens of people have survived a crash involving a plane carrying 67 people in Kazakhstan, local officials say.

Kazakh authorities said 38 people were killed in the crash. Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it attempted to make an emergency landing near the Kazakh city of Aktau.


The plane was en route to Grozny in Russia but it was diverted due to fog, the airline told the BBC.


Dramatic video captures the moment when an aircraft dived into the ground with great force and burst into a fireball after touching the ground with landing gear down.


The airline said that the jet "made an emergency landing" some 3km (1.9 miles) from Aktau.


It took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku at 03:55 GMT on Wednesday and crashed around 06:28, data from the website Flightradar24 showed.


Unconfirmed reports from Russian media said the aircraft might have collided with a flock of birds before crashing.


Azerbaijan Airlines said flights between Baku and the Russian cities of Grozny and Makhachkala would be canceled while an investigation into the incident was completed.


Officials said the plane's black box flight recorder had been recovered.


Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.


Of those on board, one woman, en route to Chechnya to spend the holidays with her children, Grozny being its capital, has been confirmed dead. Still missing is a mother on her way to visit her ailing child, carrying medical tests with her.


The BBC's Azerbaijani service spoke with one young woman who spoke of her heartache in an agonizing search for any news of her father, who'd been on the flight:.


She said her father was traveling with his son, who survived the crash and was able to call his sister, but up until now, nothing has been known about their father.

Kazakhstan plane crash shot down

Flight 8432 flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny made an emergency landing some 3 kilometres from Aktau after reportedly colliding with a flock of birds, reports the airline.

According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 37 passengers were Azerbaijani citizens. There were also 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani citizens.


According to flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24, the aircraft performed what appeared to be a figure-eight once it came near the airport in Aktau. The jet's altitude fluctuated wildly in the final minutes of the flight before hitting the ground.


FlightRadar24 said in a separate online post the aircraft had faced "strong GPS jamming" which "made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data," referring to the information that allows flight-tracking websites to follow planes in flight.


Videos collected from social media by the AnewZ news channel appear to show the aircraft struggling to make an emergency landing, and breaking up in a fireball as it hits the ground.


Speaking at a news conference, the head of Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev, said it was too early to speculate on the cause, but that bad weather had made it necessary for the plane to change from its planned route.

READ MORE: Kazakhstan plane crash survivors

The information given to me is that because of worsening weather conditions the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny, going toward Aktau airport, where on the landing it crashed, he said.


A request for comment was not immediately returned by Embraer Wednesday morning. In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public updated and changed its social media banners to solid black.