An Azerbaijani passenger plane with 67 people on board crashed in the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday, authorities said, adding that more than 30 were likely killed.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry said in a statement on Telegram that there are at least 32 survivors and that five crew members were among those on board. At least 29 have been hospitalized, the ministry told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted medical workers as saying four bodies had been recovered and emergency workers at the scene saying both pilots, according to a preliminary assessment, died in the crash.
The Embraer 190 plane made an emergency landing three kilometers from the city, as previously reported by the airline “Azerbaiyan Airlines.”
The ministry initially said 25 people survived the crash, but later revised that figure to 29 as the search and rescue operation continued at the crash site, reducing the alleged death toll.
Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office later reported that at least 32 people survived, adding that the number was not final. The number of survivors could mean that more than 30 people could have died.
The plane was initially scheduled to travel from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus. According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 37 passengers were Azerbaijani citizens. There were also 16 Russian citizens, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyz, he said.
Bird strike, GPS interference
RIA Novosti cited Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, as saying that preliminary information showed that the pilot had decided to divert to Aktau after a bird strike on the plane caused “an emergency situation on board.”
Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the plane making a steep descent before crashing to the ground in a fireball. Other images showed part of the fuselage torn from the wings and the rest of the plane, face down on the grass. The images corresponded to the colors of the plane and its registration number.
Some of the videos posted on social media showed survivors dragging other passengers away from the wreckage of the plane.
Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed that the plane made what appeared to be a figure to the right once it approached Aktau Airport, and its altitude rose and fell substantially during the final minutes of the flight before impact. the ground.
FlightRadar24 separately said in an online post that the plane had faced “strong GPS interference” that “caused the plane to transmit incorrect ADS-B data,” referring to information that allows tracking websites flights follow the planes in flight.
Russia has been blamed in the past for jamming GPS transmissions throughout the region.
Embraer did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday morning. In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep the public informed and changed its banners on social media to solid black.
Azerbaijan’s state news agency Azertac said an official delegation consisting of Azerbaijan’s emergency situations minister, the country’s deputy prosecutor general and the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines had been sent to Aktau to carry out a ” on-site investigation”.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who was traveling to St. Petersburg, returned to Azerbaijan upon hearing the news of the accident, the president’s press service reported. Aliyev was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a bloc of former Soviet countries founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media. “It is with deep sadness that I express my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” he wrote.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev by phone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijani authorities were investigating the accident. Embraer told The Associated Press in a statement that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”
