Sangbad Voice 9, New Delhi Bureau: International Desk: According to the Kazakh Emergencies Ministry,
a plane carrying more than 60 people crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on
Wednesday, leaving over 20 passengers alive and dozens more thought to be dead.
According to reports, the aircraft crashed close to the Aktau airport.
The plane was traveling from Baku to Grozny in Russia's Chechnya when it was
redirected owing to fog in Grozny, according to Russian news sources. The plane
was also rerouted because of fog at its original destination.
Unverified
footage of the crash on Wednesday showed dense black smoke billowing and the
jet exploding into flames as it struck the ground. Passengers were observed
staggering from a portion of the fuselage that had survived, bloodied and
damaged.
After racing to the scene, almost fifty rescuers were able to put out a fire at
the crash site.
Near the city of Aktau, a plane traveling the Baku-Grozny route crashed. On
Telegram, Kazakhstan's transport ministry stated that it is owned by Azerbaijan
Airlines.
According to the Kazakh transport ministry, the aircraft carried five crew
members and 62 passengers.
According to Russian news outlets, the aircraft was redirected due to fog in
Grozny, Chechnya, after originally departing Baku.
Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into what had happened, mulling possible explanations such as a technical problem, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.Kazakhstani authorities said they had started investigating the incident, considering potential causes like a technical issue, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.
The Embraer 190 made an emergency landing just 2 miles (3 km) from Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern bank of the Caspian Sea, according to Azerbaijan Airlines, the nation's flag carrier."Preliminary information indicates that there are survivors, but details regarding casualties are still being clarified," the emergency ministry stated.
According to a statement from Russia's aviation watchdog, initial data indicated the pilot had chosen to make an emergency landing following a bird hit.
Azerbaijan's
president, Ilham Aliyev, was on his way home from Russia after the disaster,
where he was scheduled to attend a conference on Wednesday, according to
Russia's RIA news agency.
Social media users shared purported images of the incident, which purportedly
showed an airplane plunging to the ground and transforming into a fireball.
Additional images showed first responders presumably attempting to recover
survivors from the wrecked remnants of the aircraft.
