Azerbaijani Plane Crashes, 38 People Died

Aktau, MINA – At least 38 people were killed when an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crashed near Aktau city, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reported.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev told a news conference in Aktau that 38 people were killed and 29 were rescued.

According to AZAL’s Telegram statement, 62 passengers and five crew members were on board the Embraer 190, which crashed about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau as it was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the Chechen Republic.

The airline later suspended flights between Baku and Grozny and between Baku and the Russian city of Makhachkala, the capital of the Dagestan Republic.

Kazakhstan’s Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement that 52 of its personnel and 11 pieces of equipment were sent to the crash site, where the plane burst into flames.

It later said that 150 personnel and 45 pieces of equipment from Kazakhstan’s emergency services were involved in the search and rescue efforts.

Kanan Zeynalov, a spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office, had earlier told a news conference in Baku that there were 32 survivors.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who cut short a visit to the Russian city of St. Petersburg, announced at a meeting with government officials that a commission had been set up to investigate the reasons behind the crash.

“The reasons for the crash are still unknown to us. There are various theories, but I believe it is too early to discuss them. This issue must be thoroughly investigated,” Aliyev was quoted as saying in a statement from the Azerbaijani presidency.

Aliyev later issued a decree declaring December 26 a day of national mourning.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also ordered an investigation into the crash, which was led by Bozumbayev and sent a medical team from the capital Astana to help survivors.

AZAL told Azerbaijan’s state news agency Azertac and Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency that initial findings suggested a bird strike was the cause of the crash.

Russian media said the plane was unable to land in Grozny because of an attack by Ukrainian drones. The pilots diverted to the city of Makhachkala but were hampered by fog, eventually requesting to land in Aktau.

Later on Wednesday, the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Andriy Kovalenko, said on Telegram that the plane was reportedly shot down by Russian air defense systems.

“Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny but did not do so. The plane was damaged by Russia and sent to Kazakhstan instead of making an emergency landing in Grozny and saving lives,” he added. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)