Azerbaijani airliner with 67 crashes in Kazakhstan

ASTANA — An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed on Wednesday in Aktau city of Kazakhstan, with more than 30 people likely dead, according to officials.

The plane was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus.

Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry said in a Telegram statement that those on board included five crew. A total of 29 survivors, including two children, have been hospitalized, the ministry told Russia's news agency RIA Novosti.

Russian news agency Interfax quoted medical workers as saying that four bodies have been recovered and emergency workers at the scene as saying that both pilots, according to a preliminary assessment, died in the crash.

The Embraer 190 aircraft made an emergency landing 3 kilometers from the city, Azerbaijan Airlines said earlier.

The Prosecutor General's Office in Azerbaijan later reported that at least 32 people survived the crash, adding that the number was not final. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that some of them were in critical condition.

The number of survivors could mean that over 30 people may be dead.

According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 37 passengers were Azerbaijani citizens. There were also 16 passengers from Russia, six from Kazakhstan and three from Kyrgyzstan, it said.

RIA Novosti quoted Russia's civil aviation authority as saying that preliminary information showed that the pilot had chosen to divert to Aktau after a bird strike on the aircraft led to "an emergency situation on board".

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft lying upside down in the grass. The footage corresponded to the plane's colors and its registration number.

Azerbaijan's state news agency Azertac, said that an official delegation consisting of Azerbaijan's emergency situations minister, the country's deputy general prosecutor and the vice-president of Azerbaijan Airlines had been dispatched to Aktau to conduct an on-site investigation.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who had been traveling to St. Petersburg, returned to Azerbaijan on hearing news of the crash, the president's media service said. Aliyev was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS.

Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media. "It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured," he wrote.

He also signed a decree declaring Dec 26 a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the phone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Speaking at the CIS meeting, Putin also said that Russia's Emergency Ministry sent a plane with equipment and medical workers to Kazakhstan to assist with the aftermath of the crash.

Agencies Via Xinhua