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An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet with 67 people on board crashed near the city of Aktau in western Kazakhstan on Wednesday, December 25, local authorities confirmed. At least 32 survivors have been rescued from the wreckage.
The Embraer 190 aircraft was flying from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny in Chechnya, Russia, when it veered off its scheduled route and crashed near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.
The Kazakh transport ministry confirmed the incident on Telegram, stating, “A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines.” The airline reported that the aircraft was carrying 62 passengers and five crew members.
According to Azerbaijani authorities, the plane made an emergency landing approximately three kilometers (1.9 miles) from Aktau. The Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, subsequently cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) following the crash.
Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general’s office stated, “According to available data, 32 people survived the crash.” Meanwhile, the Kazakh emergency situations ministry reported that its staff successfully extinguished a fire that erupted at the crash site.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, with local and international authorities working together to determine the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
