An Azerbaijan Airlines plane carrying around 70 people crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Officials confirmed that 38 were killed in the crash near the Kazakhstan city of Aktau.
Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev disclosed the death toll while meeting with Azerbaijani officials, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Based on the initial comment from authorities, the plane crashed near Aktau airport after making an emergency landing.
As per the latest reports, a total of 32 people have survived the plane crash, of which 29 have been hospitalized.
The inital reports stated that 25 survivors had been found. With the latest update, the number of survivors has been confirmed to be 32.
Based on this survivor count, around 30 people are feared dead. As we wait for further confirmations, the airline has stated that all five crew members of the plane did not survive the crash.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 was en-route from Baku, Azerbaijan to Grozny, Russia, but was rerouted due to fog and forced to make an emergency landing near Aktau. The crashed plane has been identified as an Embraer 190 aircraft.
Emergency services were deployed as soon as the crash occurred and put out the blaze. A total of 67 passengers were on board, along with five crew members.
As per reports, all of the survivors were in the tail section of the plane.
Reactions Pour In
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences over the loss of lives. As per Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Putin has expressed his condolences to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also expressed his condolences to the president of Azerbaijan.
"My heartfelt condolences to my dear brother President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan over the loss of precious lives in this incident. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and we wish a swift recovery to the injured.Pakistan stands with Azerbaijan in this hour of grief," said the PM on X.
