No fewer than 35 people are feared dead after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on Wednesday in western Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijani authorities announced that 32 people survived the Embraer 190 accident near the city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the Caspian Sea’s eastern shore.
Azerbaijan Airlines said that 67 persons were on board, including 62 passengers and five crew members, and that 35 may have died in the disaster.
The plane was flying from Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital on the Caspian Sea’s western bank, to Grozny, Chechnya, in southern Russia.
“A plane on the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,” the Kazakh transport ministry said on Telegram.
Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag airline, said the plane “made an emergency landing” about three kilometres (1.9 miles) from Aktau.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of national mourning and postponed a scheduled trip to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet countries.
According to the Kazakh transport ministry, the jet was carrying 37 Azerbaijani nationals, six Kazakhs, three Kyrgyzstanis, and 16 Russians.
The office of Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general stated, “According to available data, 32 people survived the crash.”
“We cannot disclose any investigation results at this time. All possible scenarios are being examined, and the necessary expert analyses are underway,” the statement said.
“An investigative team, led by the deputy prosecutor general of Azerbaijan, has been dispatched to Kazakhstan and is working at the crash site.”
The ministry had earlier reported that “28 survivors, including two children, have been hospitalised.”
It added that 150 emergency workers were at the scene.
The health ministry said a special flight was being sent from the Kazakh capital, Astana, with specialist doctors to treat the injured.
Aliyev’s office stated that the president “ordered the prompt initiation of urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster.”
“I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash… and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Aliyev said in a social media post.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Aliyev and “expressed his condolences in connection with the crash,” his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.
As he launched the summit of CIS leaders in Saint Petersburg, Putin announced that a Russian emergency ministry team had been dispatched to Aktau with medical professionals and other equipment.
Mehriban Aliyeva, Azerbaijan’s first lady and first vice president, stated she was “deeply saddened by the news of the tragic loss of lives in the plane crash near Aktau.”
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. Wishing them strength and patience! I also wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” she said on Instagram.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov expressed condolences on Telegram: “I express my condolences to the relatives of the passengers of the Azerbaijan Airlines jet who died.”
Flight Radar showed the plane crossing the Caspian Sea, deviating from its typical route, and then circling over the area where it crashed.
