Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 38 – but 29 survive

An international investigation has begun into how an Embraer 190 passenger jet with 67 people onboard crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people but leaving 29 survivors

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243, which had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia‘s Chechnya, crash-landed instead at Aktau airport.

Unverified video footage of the crash showed the aircraft descending – apparently with control problems – and hitting the ground where it burst into flames.

Children were among the survivors being treated at a nearby hospital, authorities said in a statement.

Some of the videos posted on social media showed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage.

Russia’s aviation watchdog a preliminary investigation indicated the pilot decided to change landing site after “a collision with birds”.

But Reuters news agency noted that the plane had diverted from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks.

The news agency quoted Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, who also raised doubt over a bird strike.

“You can lose control of the plane, but you don’t fly wildly off course as a consequence,” he said.

However, Azeri president Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, and said bad weather in Grozny had forced the flight to divert.

Mr Aliyev said: “The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing.”

Commercial aviation-tracking websites monitored the flight as it flew north on its scheduled route along the west coast before it disappeared. It then reappeared on the east coast, where it circled near Aktau airport before crashing into the beach.

Kazakh officials said those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Five of the 67 were crew.

Transport prosecutor, Timur Suleimenov, told a briefing that the plane’s black box, which contains flight data to help determine the cause of a crash, had been found, Interfax reported.