ASTANA: According to authorities, 38 of the 67 individuals on board an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane perished in the crash that occurred in western Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
Instead of traveling northwest from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, in Chechnya, southern Russia, the Embraer 190 plane crossed the Caspian Sea and crashed close to Aktau, Kazakhstan.
According to Flight Radar, the plane veered off course and circled over the region where it crashed, which is close to Aktau, a hub for oil and gas on the Caspian Sea’s eastern border.
Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev was quoted by Russia’s Interfax news agency as saying, “The situation is not very good, 38 dead.”
According to Azerbaijan Airlines, there were 67 individuals on board, including five crew members and 62 passengers.
Earlier in the day, the Kazakh ministry of emergency situations stated that “28 survivors, including two children, have been hospitalized.”
The aircraft was carrying 37 citizens of Azerbaijan, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan, and sixteen from Russia, according to the Kazakh transport ministry.
Near the city of Aktau, a plane traveling the Baku-Grozny route crashed. The Kazakh transport ministry posted on Telegram that it is owned by Azerbaijan Airlines.
The nation’s flag airline, Azerbaijan Airlines, reported that the aircraft “made an emergency landing” approximately three kilometers (1.9 miles) away from Aktau.
Kazakhstan claimed to have launched an inquiry.
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan canceled a planned trip to Russia for an informal conference of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a collection of former Soviet countries, and instead proclaimed Thursday a day of national mourning.
In a statement, the prosecutor general’s office in Azerbaijan stated, “At this time, we are unable to disclose any investigation results.”
It further stated, “The required expert analyses are underway, and all potential scenarios are being examined.”
It stated that an investigative team headed by Azerbaijan’s deputy prosecutor general has been sent to Kazakhstan and is currently working at the scene of the crash.
Doctors are flown to the location.
According to the Kazakh emergency situations ministry, a fire that started when the jet crashed was extinguished by its employees. There were 150 emergency personnel there, according to the report.
The Kazakh capital, Astana, is sending a special flight with medical specialists to treat the injured, according to the health ministry.
The president “ordered the prompt initiation of urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster,” according to Aliyev’s office.
“I offer my sympathies to the families of those who perished in the collision. and hope the injured get well soon,” Aliyev wrote on social media.
Sending condolences
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan both expressed their profound sadness at the loss of so many innocent souls in the tragic airline disaster.
The president and prime minister expressed their sorrow and offered their deepest sympathies to President Aliyev, the government, and the people of Azerbaijan in separate comments.
In addition to speaking with Aliyev over the phone, Russian President Vladimir Putin “expressed his condolences in connection with the crash,” according to Dmitry Peskov, who addressed at a press conference.
Later, when he started the summit of CIS leaders in Saint Petersburg, Putin announced that a Russian emergency situations ministry had been dispatched to Aktau with medical staff and other equipment.
Mehriban Aliyeva, the first lady of Azerbaijan and the nation’s first vice president, expressed her sadness over the tragic deaths in the plane crash in Aktau.
“I offer the victims’ families and loved ones my sincerest sympathies. I hope they have patience and strength! She posted on Instagram, “I also wish the injured a speedy recovery.”
“I offer my condolences to the families of the passengers of the Azerbaijan Airlines jet who perished,” Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.
