An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 folks onboard crashed Wednesday close to the Kazakhstani metropolis of Aktau, leaving at the very least 32 survivors, in response to officers. Greater than 30 folks could also be lifeless.
The aircraft was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian metropolis of Grozny within the North Caucasus.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry stated in a Telegram assertion that these on board included 5 crew. A complete of 29 survivors, together with two youngsters, have been hospitalized, the ministry informed Russia’s state information company, RIA Novosti.
One other Russian information company, Interfax quoted medical staff as saying that 4 our bodies have been recovered and emergency staff on the scene as saying that each pilots, in response to a preliminary evaluation, died within the crash.
The Embraer 190 plane made an emergency touchdown 3 km from the town, Azerbaijan Airways stated earlier.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry initially stated 25 folks survived the crash, later revising that quantity to 27, 28, after which 29 because the search and rescue operation continued on the web site of the crash, bringing the supposed dying toll down.
The Prosecutor Common’s Workplace in Azerbaijan later reported that at the very least 32 folks survived the crash, including that the quantity wasn’t ultimate. Azerbaijan’s Overseas Ministry stated in an announcement that a few of them have been in essential situation.
The variety of survivors may imply that over 30 folks could also be lifeless.
In line with Kazakhstani officers, these aboard the aircraft included 42 Azerbaijani residents, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani residents, it stated.
Azamat Sarsenbayev through AP
RIA Novosti quoted Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, as saying that preliminary data confirmed that the pilot had chosen to divert to Kazakhstan’s Aktau after a chicken strike on the plane led to “an emergency situation on board”.
Cell phone footage circulating on-line appeared to point out the plane making a steep descent earlier than smashing into the bottom in a fireball. Different footage confirmed a part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the remainder of the plane, mendacity upside within the grass. The footage corresponded to the aircraft’s colours and its registration quantity.
Among the movies posted on social media confirmed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage of the aircraft.
Flight-tracking information from FlightRadar24.com confirmed the plane making what seemed to be a figure-right as soon as nearing the airport in Aktau, its altitude shifting up and down considerably over the past minutes of the flight earlier than impacting the bottom.
FlightRadar24 individually stated in a web-based publish that the plane had confronted “strong GPS jamming” which “ made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data”, referring to the data that enables flight-tracking web sites to comply with planes in flight. Russia has been blamed up to now for jamming GPS transmissions within the wider area.
In an announcement, Azerbaijan Airways stated it could hold members of the general public up to date and altered its social media banners to strong black.
Azerbaijan’s state information company, Azertac, stated that an official delegation consisting of Azerbaijan’s emergency conditions minister, the nation’s deputy common prosecutor, and the vice chairman of Azerbaijan Airways had been dispatched to Aktau to conduct an “on-site investigation”.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who had been touring to Russia, returned to Azerbaijan on listening to information of the crash, the president’s press service stated. Aliyev was because of attend a casual assembly of leaders of the Commonwealth of Unbiased States, a bloc of former Soviet international locations based after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St. Petersburg.
Aliyev expressed his condolences to the households of the victims in an announcement on social media. “It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured,” he wrote.
He additionally signed a decree declaring Dec. 26 a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the telephone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed reporters.
Talking on the CIS assembly in St. Petersburg, Putin additionally stated that Russia’s Emergency Ministry despatched a aircraft with gear and medical staff to Kazakhstan to help with the aftermath of the crash.
Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities stated they have been investigating the crash. Embraer informed The Related Press in an announcement that the corporate is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”
Related Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.
