Passenger plane crashes near Kazakhstan’s Aktau; many feared dead

An Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan with 62 passengers and five crew members on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying 32 people had survived.

Unconfirmed video of the crash showed the plane, which was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, burst into flames as it hit the ground on the coast and thick black smoke then rose.

Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact.

Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry said in a statement that firefighters had extinguished the fire and that the survivors, including two children, were being treated at a nearby hospital.

The bodies of the dead were found.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 jet, flight number J2-8243, was flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia, but had been forced to make an emergency landing about 3km (1.8 miles) from Aktau in Kazakhstan .

Aktau is located on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan and Russia.

Commercial aviation tracking websites tracked the flight flying north on its planned route along the west coast of the ocean before its flight path was no longer recorded. It then reappeared on the opposite east coast, circling near Aktau airport before crashing onto the beach.

Authorities in Kazakhstan said a government commission had been set up to investigate what had happened, and its members ordered to fly to the scene and ensure the families of the dead and injured got the help they needed.

Kazakhstan will cooperate with Azerbaijan on the investigation, the government said.

Russia’s aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information indicated the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.

President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences, as did Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, who had decided to return home from Russia where he was due to attend a summit on Wednesday, his office said.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement, saying some of those treated at the hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their speedy recovery.