By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
NO fewer than 38 persons were killed and 29 others were hospitalized after an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan’s Aktau Airport close to the Caspian Sea on Wednesday morning.
According to a spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, the aircraft was flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia. It was rerouted to Aktau in Kazakhstan due to fog in Grozny.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations told our source that the plane was carrying 69 people: 64 passengers and five crew members.
The ministry also said 29 people survived the crash, with many hospitalized, including two children.
Kazakhstan’s deputy health minister told ABC News that some of those taken to hospital are in critical condition.
“The list of dead and injured is being finalized,” the Ministry of Emergency Situations wrote earlier Wednesday in a Telegram post.
Preliminary reports suggest that the crash may have been caused by a bird strike leading to engine failure, which necessitated an emergency landing attempt, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Emergency Situations said.
However, during a press briefing on Wednesday, officials announced that a criminal case had been initiated by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan regarding the facts of the crash.
“Currently, the investigation process is ongoing in cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan. All versions are being explored in the criminal case,” Farid Huseynov, a spokesperson for Azerbaijan Airlines, at the press briefing.
Among the passengers were 37 Azerbaijani citizens, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia.
Maj. Gen. Chingis Arinov, Kazakhstan minister of emergency situations, said
“the investigation team is being provided with the necessary assistance by the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan at the scene of the incident.”
Embraer, the aircraft manufacturer, released a statement about the crash, saying:
“We are closely monitoring the situation, and we remain fully committed to supporting the relevant authorities.”
Emergency response teams, including 432 workers and 79 vehicles, and 10 canine units were deployed to the crash site.
Canine teams are involved in the search operations. Rescuers are working around the clock, using special equipment, the spokesperson said.
Investigations are underway, with aviation authorities from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia are collaborating to determine the exact cause of the crash, the spokesperson added.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev canceled his planned attendance of Wednesday’s Commonwealth of Independent States meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, following the crash.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg meeting, Putin told attendees he had dispatched a team from Russia’s own Emergencies Ministry to Aktau “with medical personnel and the necessary additional equipment on board.”
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