A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashes in Kazakhstan

A drone view shows emergency specialists working at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Dec. 25, 2024.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) — An Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 62 passengers and five crew members on board, Kazakh authorities said, saying 32 survivors had been rescued.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 strayed hundreds of kilometers from its planned route and crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea near the city of Aktau in what Russia’s aviation regulator said was an emergency possibly caused by a bird strike had been caused.

Officials did not immediately explain why it crossed the sea, but the crash occurred shortly after drone strikes hit southern Russia. Drone activity has closed airports in the region in the past, and the nearest Russian airport on the plane’s route was closed Wednesday morning.

Video of the crash showed the plane descending quickly before bursting into flames as it hit the coast, billowing thick black smoke. Bloodied and injured passengers could be seen stumbling out of a piece of fuselage that remained intact.

Reuters was able to confirm from visible landmarks that the video was filmed on the Caspian coast near Aktau.

Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry said in a statement that firefighters had extinguished the fire and that survivors, including two children, were being treated at a nearby hospital. The bodies of the dead were recovered.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 plane was flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia, but had to make an emergency landing about 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau in Kazakhstan.

“Preliminary: After a collision with birds due to an emergency situation on board, the commander decided to ‘fly’ to an alternative airfield – Aktau was selected,” the Russian aviation regulator said on Telegram.

The Russian airport in the approach path was closed

Aktau lies on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan and Russia. Commercial flight tracking websites tracked the flight as it flew north along its planned route along the West Coast before its flight path was no longer recorded. It then reappeared on the east coast, circling near Aktau Airport before crashing onto the beach.

Authorities in two Russian regions bordering Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia, reported drone attacks on Wednesday morning.

An official at Russia’s Makhachkala airport on the east coast of the Caspian Sea, the airport closest to where the flight became untracked, told Reuters it was closed to incoming traffic for several hours on Wednesday morning had been. Reuters could not immediately reach officials at Grozny airport.

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A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashes in Kazakhstan

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