Azerbaijan plane crash: On Wednesday ( 25.12.2024), an Embraer passenger jet en route from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed in Kazakhstan, with 62 passengers and five crew members on board. Kazakh authorities reported that 32 survivors were rescued from the wreckage.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 crashed near the city of Aktau on the Caspian Sea’s opposite coast, far from its intended route. Russia’s aviation watchdog suggested that a bird might have caused the emergency situation leading to the crash.
While authorities did not immediately explain why the plane deviated from its path, the incident happened shortly after a drone strike in southern Russia. Previous drone activity has led to airport shutdowns in the region, and the nearest Russian airport to the flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.
Footage of the crash showed the aircraft rapidly descending, emitting thick black smoke before bursting into flames upon impact with the seabed. Injured passengers, some bloodied, were seen crawling out of an intact section of the fuselage.
Reuters confirmed the video’s authenticity, noting it was filmed on the Caspian coast near Aktau.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Situations Ministry stated that the fire was extinguished, and survivors, including two children, were receiving treatment at a nearby hospital. Efforts to recover the bodies of those who did not survive are ongoing.
Azerbaijan Airlines confirmed that the Embraer 190 was flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechnya region, but was forced to make an emergency landing approximately 1.8 miles from Aktau, Kazakhstan.
Russia’s airports were closed
Aktau is situated on the opposite coast of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan and Russia. Commercial aviation-tracking websites monitored the flight, which was initially flying north along the west coast before its flight path disappeared. The plane reappeared on the east coast, circling near Aktau Airport before crashing on the beach.
Authorities reported drone strikes in two Russian regions adjacent to Chechnya, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia, on Wednesday morning.
An official at Russia’s Makhachkala airport on the Caspian Sea’s east coast informed Reuters that the airport had been closed to incoming traffic for several hours on Wednesday morning. Reuters could not immediately contact authorities at Grozny’s airport.
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The government has stated that Kazakhstan will assist the people of Azerbaijan within three days.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who are visiting Russia, as well as the President of New Zealand, held a meeting where the leaders of the two countries discussed their respective offsets.
Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov expressed his condolences in a statement, noting that some of those being treated in the hospital were in “very serious condition” and that he and others would pray for their speedy recovery.