Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 on board crashes in Kazakhstan
25 persons reported to have survived crash; initial reports suggest pilot may have sought to avert a bird strike
A plane carrying 67 people, including 62 passengers and five crew members, crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh transport ministry said on Wednesday (December 25).
The Azerbaijan Airlines flight was on the way from Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya. According to AFP, 25 people survived the crash. Of these, 22 have been hospitalised, said the Kazakh health ministry via Telegram.
A Reuters report quoting Russia's aviation watchdog said the pilot may have attempted an emergency landing following a bird strike. Kazakhstani officials confirmed that over 50 rescuers were at the crash site and successfully extinguished the fire.
The ill-fated flight, #J28243, was an Embraer ERJ-190 (registration 4K-AZ65). The aircraft departed from Baku at 03:55 UTC.
Mid flight, it experienced severe GPS jamming, leading to incorrect ADS-B data transmission. The ADS-B signal was lost at 04:40 UTC but briefly reappeared at 06:07 UTC before the crash occurred at 06:28 UTC, according to Flightradar 24.
Viral video
A video doing the rounds of social media shows the plane making a rapid descent, climbing up again, and then making another descent before crashing and bursting into flames. A ball of fire and plumes of smoke can be seen as the plane vanishes behind some buildings in the clip.
The Federal could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
According to Russian news agencies, the flight was rerouted due to fog. However, Azerbaijan Airlines said in a statement that the plane had made an “emergency landing” about 3 km from Aktau.
“The Embraer 190 aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, flight numbered J2-8243 on the Baku-Grozny route, made an emergency landing approximately 3 kilometers near the city of Aktau. Additional information regarding the incident will be provided to the public,” the airline wrote on Instagram.
