Dozens were killed Wednesday after an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger flight from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed in Kazakhstan while attempting to make an emergency landing.
Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry said in a post on Telegram that the plane had been carrying 67 people, 62 of them passengers, from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Chechnya, when it crashed Wednesday morning near Aktau, Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry said in a post on Telegram. The Kazakh Health Ministry later published a list of 29 survivors, including two children.
Russia's state aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said in a statement that the plane had been attempting to make an emergency landing in Aktau after colliding with a flock of birds in the air, with Azerbaijan Airlines confirmed the plane had crashed 1.8 miles outside of Aktau. The Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry said flames had erupted at the crash site, but were quickly extinguished.
According to the Kazakh news outlet Tengrinews, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said 38 people were killed in the crash. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of mourning for the victims of the crash. The Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported that the passengers were 37 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russians, 6 Kazakh citizens and 3 Kyrgyz citizens, citing the Kazakh Transport Ministry (per NBC NEWS).
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