As a result of the accident of Azerbaijan Airlines in Kazakhstan, 38 of the 67 people on board died – Milli

Moment Azerbaijan A plane with 67 people on board crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people and 29 survivors, a Kazakh official said.

According to the information provided by the Russian Interfax news agency, Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev announced these figures in a meeting with Azerbaijani officials.

According to “Azerbaijan Airlines” CJSC, “Embraer 190” was diverted 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau while traveling from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus, and attempted to make an emergency landing.

Speaking at the press conference, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that it is too early to speculate on the causes of the accident, but he said that weather conditions forced the plane to change its planned route.

“According to the information given to me, the plane changed its direction between Baku and Grozny due to the deterioration of weather conditions and moved towards Aktau airport and crashed during landing.

Russia’s civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, said that according to initial reports, the pilots headed for Aktau after a bird strike caused an emergency on the plane.

According to Kazakhstan officials, 42 citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 citizens of Russia, 6 citizens of Kazakhstan and 3 citizens of Kyrgyzstan were on board the plane. The General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan previously reported that 32 of the 67 people on the plane survived, but told journalists that this number was not final. The Associated Press could not immediately reconcile Kazakh and Azerbaijani officials’ differences between the number of survivors.

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Mobile phone footage circulating online shows the plane making a steep descent before crashing into the ground in a ball of flames. Other images showed part of its body with wings torn off and the rest lying upside down in the grass. The images matched the aircraft’s colors and registration number.

Some videos circulating on social networks showed survivors dragging passengers away from the rubble.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed that the plane made what appeared to be a right figure as it approached Aktau Airport, its altitude moving up and down significantly before impacting the ground in the final minutes of the flight.

In a separate online post, FlightRadar24 said the plane was experiencing “severe GPS jamming” that “caused the plane to transmit bad ADS-B data,” citing data that allows flight tracking sites to track planes in flight. Russia has been accused in the past of jamming GPS transmissions in the wider region.

“Azerbaijan Airlines” said that it will constantly warn public representatives and changed its banners on social networks to black. He also said that he will suspend flights between Baku and Grozny, as well as between Baku and the Russian city of Makhachkala in the North Caucasus, until the investigation into the accident is concluded.

An official delegation consisting of Azerbaijan’s Minister of Emergencies, Deputy Prosecutor General and Vice President of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC was sent to Aktau to conduct an “on-site investigation”.

According to the press service of the President, Aliyev, who visited Russia, returned to Azerbaijan as soon as he heard the news of the accident. He was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a bloc of former Soviet states formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St. Petersburg.

Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in his statement on the social network. “With deep sadness, I offer my condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery,” he wrote.

He also signed a decree declaring December 26 as a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev by phone and expressed his condolences.

Speaking at the CIS meeting held in St. Petersburg, Putin also said that the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia sent a plane with equipment and medical personnel to Kazakhstan to eliminate the consequences of the accident.

Officials of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia said they were investigating the accident. Embraer said in a statement to The Associated Press that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.

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