Fears that dozens were killed in the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan

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An Azerbaijan Airlines plane carrying 62 passengers and five crew members crashed while making an emergency landing at Kazakhstan airport, and 29 survivors, including two children, were taken to hospital.

Video clips published by local media showed a large explosion after the plane crashed in an empty field. Pictures from the scene showed passengers being extricated from the tail of the plane’s fuselage with the help of emergency workers.

The Russian official RIA news agency, citing the Kazakh Ministry of Transport, reported that the people on board the plane were from Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Local media reported that nine of those taken to hospital were in serious condition and that search and rescue operations were underway.

The plane, an Embraer 190, was heading to Grozny in the Chechen Republic in southern Russia, coming from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, but it was diverted to Aktau after it flew in heavy fog.

Early media reports indicated that the flight collided with a flock of birds, affecting control of the plane.

RIA quoted the Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia as saying, “After colliding with birds, and due to an emergency on board the plane, its captain decided to go to an alternative airport and Aktau was chosen.” Local media also published unconfirmed reports of an oxygen cylinder explosion on board the plane, causing several passengers to lose consciousness.

The Azerbaijani News Agency (APA) said that Baku sent an official delegation to Kazakhstan to investigate the incident. The country’s President Ilham Aliyev left the informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Russia, returning to Baku. He expressed his condolences to the affected families.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin also offered his condolences to the Azerbaijani leader.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov expressed his condolences to the relatives of the deceased on social media. “We pray to God Almighty to grant (the survivors) recovery.”

Pictures posted on social media showed relatives gathering at Grozny airport to hear news of their loved ones.

A man at Grozny airport said he had just received a video showing that his nephew survived the accident. “Of course I am very happy,” he told a RIA news agency correspondent.