Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan, more than 30 feared dead

An Azerbaijani airliner has crashed in the Kazakhstani city of Aktau with Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry now saying that at least 28 people survived the crash, which could mean that over 30 people are likely dead.

Four bodies have been recovered.

The ministry confirmed in a Telegram statement Wednesday that 67 people, including five crew, were on board the plane.

It added that 28 of them survived the crash and have been hospitalized.

Russian news agency Interfax cited the ministry as saying that there may be more survivors and quoted medical workers at the scene as saying that four bodies have been recovered.

The Embraer 190 aircraft made an emergency landing 3 km from the city, Azerbaijan Airlines said earlier.

Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry initially said 25 people survived the crash, later revising that number to 27 and then to 28 as the search and rescue operation continued at the site of the crash, bringing the supposed death toll down.

The plane was originally scheduled to travel from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus.

According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 37 passengers were Azerbaijani citizens. There were also 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani citizens, it said.

A spokesperson for Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information showed that the pilot had chosen to divert to Aktau after a bird strike on the aircraft led to “an emergency situation on board.”

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