An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 aircraft crashed near Aktau in western Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024. The flight flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya, but the plane was diverted due to dense fog in Grozny, leading to an emergency landing attempt at Aktau Airport.
“A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,” Kazakhstan’s transport ministry said in a statement issued on Telegram.
The aircraft, carrying 62 passengers and 5 crew members, encountered technical difficulties following a bird strike, resulting in a steering failure. A distress signal was issued over the Caspian Sea before the crash.
BREAKING: Azerbaijan Airlines flight traveling from Baku to Grozny crashes in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after reportedly requesting an emergency landing pic.twitter.com/hB5toqEFe2
— RT (@RT_com) December 25, 2024
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry reported that 42 individuals are presumed dead. The ministry added that there are 25 survivors, 22 of them have been hospitalized. The identities of the passengers and crew have not been disclosed.
Emergency responders, numbering over 50, have extinguished the post-crash fire and are conducting search and rescue operations.
Azerbaijan Airlines has not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident. The cause of the crash is under investigation by aviation authorities from both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
The path of flight J28243 recorded by Flightradar24 shows that the flight circled above Aktau before attempting the emergency landing.
This tragedy marks a significant incident for Azerbaijan Airlines, which previously experienced a fatal crash in 2005 when an Antonov An-140 plunged into the Caspian Sea, resulting in 23 fatalities.
As the investigation unfolds, further details are expected to emerge about the circumstances leading to this devastating accident.
