Kazakhstan Plane Crash: Dozens Survive Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Crash Near Aktau Airport

Dozens of passengers have survived a crash involving a plane carrying 69 people in Kazakhstan, local officials say.

Kazakh authorities said 38 people were killed in the crash.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it attempted to make an emergency landing near the Kazakh city of Aktau.

The plane was en route to Grozny in Russiabut it was diverted due to fog, the airline said.

Footage shows the aircraft heading towards the ground at high speed with its landing gear down, before bursting into flames as it lands.

The airline said the plane “made an emergency landing” about 1.9 miles from Aktau.

It took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku at 03:55 GMT on Christmas Day, and crashed around 06:28, data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.

Image source: Reuters

Unconfirmed reports from Russian media said the aircraft might have collided with a flock of birds before crashing.

Azerbaijan Airlines said flights between Baku and the Russian cities of Grozny and Makhachkala would be cancelled while an investigation into the incident was completed.

According to officials the plane’s black box flight recorder had been recovered.

Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Unverified video footage showed survivors crawling out of the wreckage, some with visible injuries.

Both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have launched investigations into the incident.

Embraer, a Brazilian manufacturer, is a smaller rival to Boeing and Airbus, and has a strong safety record.