Plane crash in Kazakhstan kills dozens, but about half of those on board survive, officials say

in Moscow – An Azerbaijani plane with 67 people on board crashed on Wednesday in western Kazakhstan, near the city of Aktau, killing 38 people and 29 survivors, a Kazakh official said.

Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev disclosed these figures during a meeting with Azerbaijani officials, reported the Russian news agency Interfax.

Azerbaijan Airlines said there were 67 people on board – 62 passengers and five crew members. Interfax quoted paramedics at the scene as saying that initial investigations indicated that both pilots had died in the crash.

The Embraer 190 plane attempted an emergency landing about two kilometers from Aktau, Azerbaijan Airlines said. A spokesman for Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said preliminary information indicated the pilot chose to divert to Aktau after a bird strike led to an “emergency situation.”

The Ministry of Emergencies in Kazakhstan initially said that 25 people survived the accident, later correcting that number to 27, 28 and 29 as the search and rescue work continues at the accident site, reducing the number of dead.

The General Prosecutor’s Office in Azerbaijan previously reported that at least 32 people had survived the crash, but said the number was not final.

According to Kazakh officials, 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstans were on board the plane.

The flight was scheduled to fly from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus. Russian news agencies said the plane was diverted due to fog in Grozny, Reuters reported.

Interfax reported that Kazakh authorities said they had begun investigating the possible cause of the crash, including a technical problem, according to Reuters.

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the plane making a descent before crashing to the ground in a fireball. Crews extinguished the fire in the area, emergency services said.

Some pictures show part of its fuselage torn from the wings and the rest of the plane lying face up in the grass. The images were consistent with the aircraft’s colors and registration number.

Some videos posted on social media show survivors dragging their fellow passengers from the wreckage of the plane.

Unverified video showed people tripping over a piece of the fuselage that remained intact, Reuters reported.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed the plane making what appeared to be a fine line as it approached the airport in Aktau, its altitude going up and down dramatically in the final minutes of the flight before touching down.

FlightRadar24 separately said on its website that the plane experienced “GPS jamming” that caused the “plane to transmit negative ADS-B data,” referring to the information that allows aircraft tracking websites to track planes in flight. Russia has been accused in the past of interfering with GPS transmissions over a wide area.

Embraer did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday. In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public informed and change its social media banners to black.