Azerbaijan mourns 38 victims of plane crash in Kazakhstan

(AFP): Azerbaijan began a national day of mourning on Thursday after a passenger jet from the flag carrier crashed in western Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 of the 67 people onboard.

The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course across the Caspian Sea. It crashed Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

Azerbaijan Airlines reported that 67 people were on board the jet — 62 passengers and five crew members.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev told Russia’s Interfax news agency that 38 people had been killed, while the Kazakh emergency situations ministry reported “29 survivors, including three children, have been hospitalised”.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared on Thursday a day of mourning and cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations.

Aliyev’s office said the president “ordered the prompt initiation of urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster”.

“I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash … and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Aliyev said in a social media post.

The Flight Radar website showed the plane deviating from its normal route, crossing the Caspian Sea and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the sea.

Azerbaijan state news agency Azertac reported that the aircraft’s black box, which records the flight data, has been recovered.

The Kazakh transport ministry said the plane was carrying 37 nationals from Azerbaijan, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia.

Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the plane “made an emergency landing” around three kilometres from Aktau.

The Kazakh emergency situations ministry said its staff put out a fire which broke out when the plane crashed.

It said 150 emergency workers were at the scene.

Kazakhstan said it had opened an investigation into the cause of the crash, which was not immediately clear.

Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds before withdrawing the statement.

“We cannot disclose any investigation results at this time,” the office of Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general said in a statement.

“All possible scenarios are being examined, and the necessary expert analyses are underway,” it added.

It said an investigative team led by the deputy prosecutor general of Azerbaijan has been dispatched to Kazakhstan and is working at the crash site.