By KATIE MARIE DAVIES and DASHA LITVINOVA
An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 individuals onboard crashed Wednesday close to the Kazakhstani metropolis of Aktau, leaving no less than 32 survivors, in response to officers. Greater than 30 individuals could also be lifeless.
Azerbaijan Airways Flight 8243 was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian metropolis of Grozny within the North Caucasus.
The Embraer 190 plane made an emergency touchdown 3 km from town, Azerbaijan Airways mentioned earlier.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry initially mentioned 25 individuals survived the crash, later revising that quantity to 27, 28, after which 29 because the search and rescue operation continued on the web site of the crash, bringing the supposed demise toll down.
The Prosecutor Normal’s Workplace in Azerbaijan later reported that no less than 32 individuals survived the crash, including that the quantity wasn’t closing. Azerbaijan’s Overseas Ministry mentioned in an announcement that a few of them have been in vital situation.
The variety of survivors may imply that over 30 individuals could also be lifeless.
In response to Kazakhstani officers, these aboard the aircraft included 42 Azerbaijani residents, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani residents, it mentioned.
RIA Novosti quoted Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, as saying that preliminary data confirmed that the pilot had chosen to divert to Kazakhstan’s Aktau after a hen strike on the plane led to “an emergency situation on board.”
Cell phone footage circulating on-line appeared to point out the plane making a steep descent earlier than smashing into the bottom in a fireball. Different footage confirmed a part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the remainder of the plane, mendacity upside within the grass. The footage corresponded to the aircraft’s colours and its registration quantity.
Among the movies posted on social media confirmed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage of the aircraft.
Flight-tracking information from FlightRadar24.com confirmed the plane making what gave the impression to be a figure-right as soon as nearing the airport in Aktau, its altitude shifting up and down considerably over the past minutes of the flight earlier than impacting the bottom.
FlightRadar24 individually mentioned in a web based put up that the plane had confronted “strong GPS jamming” which “ made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data”, referring to the knowledge that enables flight-tracking web sites to observe planes in flight. Russia has been blamed up to now for jamming GPS transmissions within the wider area.
In an announcement, Azerbaijan Airways mentioned it could preserve members of the general public up to date and altered its social media banners to stable black.
Aliyev expressed his condolences to the households of the victims in an announcement 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 additionally signed a decree declaring Dec. 26 a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the telephone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instructed reporters.
Talking on the CIS assembly in St. Petersburg, Putin additionally mentioned that Russia’s Emergency Ministry despatched a aircraft with tools and medical employees to Kazakhstan to help with the aftermath of the crash.
Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities mentioned they have been investigating the crash. Embraer instructed The Related Press in an announcement that the corporate is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”
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Related Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.
