At least thirty people may have died after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 people on board crashed on Wednesday for unknown reasons in Kazakhstan outside the city of Aktau on the northern Caspian Sea coast.
International agencies reported that the plane, an Embraer ERJ-190 from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer with flight code J2-8243, carrying 62 passengers and five crew, experienced mid-air problems while en route between Baku and the Russian city of Grozny, apparently after colliding with a bird and veering significantly off course eastwards towards Kazakhstan. Websites such as FlightRadar24 indicated, however, that the aircraft had been subject to heavy interference with its GPS signal, which could point to possible Russian responsibility.
Video footage recorded by witnesses and posted on social media showed the aircraft having serious difficulty maintaining altitude and stable flight, until it finally crashed outside Aktau while attempting an emergency landing.
The Kazakh Ministry of Emergencies initially spoke of 25 survivors of the crash, but later updated that figure to 29. The Azerbaijani authorities said the provisional number of survivors was 32, including two children. Several videos also showed the preliminary moments of the rescue of the injured, many of whom were hospitalised in critical condition, so the death toll could rise.
Preliminary information also indicates that both pilots were killed in the crash. If the numbers of survivors are confirmed, more than 30 people would have died in the accident. According to the Kazakh authorities, 42 Azerbaijani, 16 Russian, six Kazakh and three Kyrgyz nationals were on board the Azerbaijan Airlines plane. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was visiting Russia, immediately returned to Baku and declared 26 December a day of national mourning.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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