Azerbaijan marks a day of mourning after a local airline’s passenger plane crashed off the coast of the Caspian Sea.
Authorities across Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia are investigating Wednesday morning’s emergency landing that killed at least 38 people.
Here’s what we know about the crash.
Where did the passenger plane crash?
The plane crashed about 3 km (1.8 miles) from the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.
It was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia.
Who was on board?
The Embraer 190 aircraft, flight number J2-8243, was carrying 62 passengers and five crew members.
According to Kazakh officials, the people on board were citizens of four different countries:
- 42 Azerbaijani citizens
- 16 Russian citizens
- 6 Kazakh citizens
- 3 Kyrgyz citizens
How many of them survived?
There are 32 survivors, including two children, who were hospitalized, many in critical condition. Many were pulled from the rubble, while some pulled out covered in blood, according to first responders and video footage.
Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev announced that 38 people had been killed.
The Russian news agency Interfax quoted rescue workers at the scene as saying that, according to a preliminary assessment, both pilots died in the crash.
Why did the plane crash?
The crash was reportedly due to an “emergency situation” on board following a bird strike, the Russian aviation regulator said on Telegram.
Due to heavy fog in Grozny, the destination, the plane had to deviate from its original route and make an emergency landing.
Commercial flight tracking websites recorded the flight flying north along its planned route along the West Coast before disappearing. It later reappeared on the east coast, circling near Aktau Airport before finally crashing.
“According to preliminary reports, the aircraft requested to land at an alternative airport before the accident … due to heavy fog in Grozny,” Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova reported from Moscow.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a statement: “According to the information available to me, due to the deteriorating weather conditions, the AZAL airline plane, which was flying on the Baku-Grozny route, changed its course and began to fly towards Aktau airport, where the crash occurred.” during landing”.
The nearest Russian airport, Makhachkala, was closed earlier in the day due to drone activity.
According to an online post by FlightRadar24, strong GPS interference in the area, which has been linked to previous incidents, may have further complicated navigation and contributed to the crash.
Aliyev acknowledged that there were several theories about what might have caused the crash, but cautioned against speculation.
“There are videos of the plane crash in the media and on social networks that everyone can see. However, we do not yet know the reasons for the crash,” said the Azerbaijani president. “There are various theories, but I think it is premature to discuss them.”
What’s the latest locally?
The emergency services responded actively to the situation.
Firefighters extinguished the fire caused by the crash, while 150 rescue workers and medical teams, including specialists flown in from Astana, treated the injured.
Azerbaijan Airlines announced that it would suspend all flights between Baku and Grozny and Baku and Makhachkala until the investigation is completed.
The airline has also set up a hotline for family members of passengers and published all passengers’ names on its social media pages.
Aliyev also signed a decree declaring December 26 a day of mourning in the country. The Azerbaijani president, who was flying to a summit in Russia at the time, said he was informed of the crash while he was in the air.
“I immediately gave the aircraft instructions to return to Baku,” Aliyev said in a statement from his office.
What investigations are taking place?
Kazakh, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities said they were investigating the crash.
“An investigative team led by the Deputy Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan has been deployed to Kazakhstan and is working at the crash site,” the Prosecutor General’s Office in Azerbaijan said in a statement.
Azerbaijan’s state news agency Azertac said the team sent to Aktau for an “on-site investigation” also included Azerbaijan’s emergency minister and the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines. Azertac said the plane’s black box – a black box that investigators use to determine the causes of aviation accidents – had been found.
Aliyev said in his statement that a “criminal case had been initiated” and that the Azerbaijani public would be “regularly” informed about the progress of the investigation.
Kazakhstan has set up a government commission to investigate the cause of the disaster and ensure that the families of the dead and injured receive the help they need.
The investigation focuses on possible technical problems and the closure of nearby airspace.
Embraer, the plane’s Brazilian manufacturer, has expressed its willingness to assist with the requests.
