Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, 38 people killed

29 survivors were hospitalized for treatment.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 veered hundreds of miles off course from Azerbaijan to Russia and crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea after Russia’s aviation regulator said a bird strike was a possible emergency, but an aviation expert said the cause was unlikely.

Officials did not immediately explain why the plane crossed the ocean, but the crash came after Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s southern Chechnya region this month. The nearest airport on the plane’s flight path in Russia was closed on the morning of December 25.

Kiev has not acknowledged the attacks this month on the city of Grozny, Chechnya, where the plane was headed.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that according to the information he received, the plane changed course due to bad weather, but the cause of the accident remains unclear and needs to be thoroughly investigated.

"This is a great tragedy, which has become an inconsolable pain for the Azerbaijani people," he said.

Video footage of the crash showed the plane descending rapidly, then hitting the shore and bursting into flames, billowing thick black smoke. Bloodied and injured passengers were seen staggering out of the partially intact fuselage.

Reuters news agency has verified from locations seen on the video that the video was filmed on the shores of the Caspian Sea near Aktau.

There were 62 passengers and five crew members on board the plane, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev, during a meeting with the Azerbaijani delegation in Aktau.

Kazakhstan's emergencies ministry said in a statement that firefighters had extinguished the fire and that survivors, including two children, were being treated at a nearby hospital. The bodies of the victims were being collected.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 was flying from Baku to Grozny, southern Russia, but was forced to make an emergency landing about 3 km from Aktau, Kazakhstan.

"Preliminary information: After the collision with the bird, due to an emergency situation on board the aircraft, the captain decided to divert to an alternative airport - Aktau was chosen," the Russian aviation watchdog said on Telegram.

However, according to expert Richard Aboulafia, working at AeroDynamic Advisory, bird collisions usually result in an emergency landing at the nearest airport, not causing the plane to fly so far off course.

The plane's black box, which contains flight data to help determine the cause of the crash, has been found, Kazakhstan's chief transport prosecutor, Timur Suleimenov, told a news conference in the country's capital Astana, Interfax news agency reported.

Aktau is on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan and Russia. Commercial aviation tracking websites recorded the flight heading north along its intended path along the west coast before the flight path was lost. The plane later reappeared on the east coast, circling near Aktau airport before crashing into the coast.

Authorities in two Russian regions near Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia, reported drone attacks on the morning of December 25.

An official at Makhachkala airport, Russia, near the Caspian Sea, the closest airport to where the flight disappeared from radar, said the airport had been closed to traffic hours earlier on the morning of December 25.

Kazakh authorities said a government commission has been set up to investigate the incident and commission members have been ordered to fly to the scene to ensure the victims' families receive the necessary assistance.

The Kazakh government said it would cooperate with Azerbaijan in the investigation. Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended flights from Baku to Russia's Chechnya region until the investigation is complete, according to Russia's TASS news agency.

President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences. Azerbaijani President Aliyev decided to return home from Russia, where he was scheduled to attend a summit on December 25, his office said.

Chechnya's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, sent his condolences and said some people were being treated in hospital in a critical condition.

In a statement, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer expressed condolences and said it would support the efforts of authorities.