Dozens Killed After Jet Crashes in Kazakhstan With 67 Onboard
A passenger plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Kazakhstan, resulting in numerous fatalities among the 67 people on board. Local authorities have reported that at least 38 individuals lost their lives in the incident.
The Embraer 190 aircraft was attempting to make an emergency landing near Aktau when it caught fire during its descent. Initial investigations suggest that a bird strike may have contributed to the crash, leading to engine failure and necessitating the emergency landing attempt. Among those on board were 62 passengers and five crew members, with reports indicating that 28 people survived the crash.
Of these survivors, many have been hospitalized, including two children, some of whom are in critical condition. The flight was originally traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, but was rerouted to Aktau due to foggy weather conditions in Grozny. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergencies has confirmed that firefighting teams managed to extinguish the flames at the crash site and that an investigation into the causes of the accident is underway.
Dozens of people were killed but at least 29 survived the crash of a passenger plane in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, according to the country’s authorities and local media.
The jet was carrying 62 passengers and five crew members when it went down near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan.
“This is a bad situation, 38 people died,” said Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev of Kazakhstan, according to Orda, a local news outlet.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Situations Ministry reported that at least 29 individuals survived the plane crash, including two children, and have been hospitalized with various injuries. The ministry shared images from the scene, depicting firefighters searching through the wreckage. One of the photos showed the tail of the aircraft largely intact, although it had become detached from the fuselage.
An unverified video released by RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, captured the scene of the crash, showing injured individuals being rescued from the wreckage. In the footage, some passengers were seen lying on the ground while others managed to walk away from the aircraft.
According to Russia’s state aviation authority, the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was attempting an emergency landing in Aktau after colliding with a flock of birds. The airline confirmed that the aircraft went down approximately 1.8 miles from Aktau.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Situations Ministry has initiated an investigation into the crash’s causes. On Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced it was also launching a criminal investigation and sending a team of investigators to the site.
Similar investigations have been opened in both Russia and Kazakhstan.The Embraer 190 was en route from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya region when it crashed. RIA Novosti reported that the flight had been diverted to Kazakhstan due to foggy conditions in Grozny.
Azerbaijan Airlines said that it was suspending flights from Baku to Grozny and Makhachkala, in neighboring Dagestan, until investigations into the cause of the crash had concluded.
Earlier on Wednesday, Flightradar24, a flight tracking service, said in a post on the social media platform X that the plane had been “exposed to GPS jamming and spoofing near Grozny.” Radar jamming is often used to defend an area against drones. It was not immediately clear whether that had played any role in the crash.
According to Andrei Menshenin, an aviation journalist, GPS jamming and spoofing could make piloting uncomfortable but was unlikely to have caused the crash.
“Every day hundreds of planes fly though areas where GPS spoofing is happening,” he said in response to written questions.
On Wednesday, local news outlets in Chechnya reported drone strikes targeting the region. Grozny Inform, a state-run news site, quoted Khamzat Kadyrov, a local security official, claiming that all drones involved had been shot down. These reports remain unverified.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian drones have struck various locations in Chechnya, including a facility associated with a riot police battalion.Kazakhstan’s transportation ministry noted that the flight’s passengers included 37 Azerbaijani nationals, 16 Russians, six Kazakh citizens, and three Kyrgyz nationals.
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin extended condolences to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev following the crash. Aliyev, who was en route to St. Petersburg for a meeting but returned to Azerbaijan due to the incident, declared Thursday a day of mourning for the victims.
Azerbaijan Airlines, the national carrier, was established from the regional branch of Aeroflot after the Soviet Union’s dissolution. Initially inheriting a fleet of Soviet-era aircraft, the airline has since modernized its fleet with Western planes.
The last significant incident involving the airline occurred in 2005 when an An-140 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff, resulting in 23 fatalities. Officials later attributed that crash to instrument failure.
Kester Terna contributed reporting.
