A plane with 62 passengers and five crew members, flying from Azerbaijan to Russia has crashed in Kazakhstan.
Gatekeepers News reports that according to Kazakh authorities; 38 people who were on board died while 29 people including two children survived, with 11 in critical condition.
According to Russian news agencies; the plane was originally scheduled to travel from Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus. It was rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
The incident occurred after a collision with birds, due to an “emergency situation” on board.
Kazakhstan government officials said a commission had been set up to investigate the crash, adding that it has ordered officials to fly to the site and ensure that the families of the deceased and injured were getting relief.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cut short his visit to Russia where he was due to attend a summit on Wednesday upon learning about the incident.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, said, “Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev was forced to leave St Petersburg (where he had a summit). Putin has already called him and expressed his condolences in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijani plane in Aktau.”
