A passenger plane thought to be carrying more than 100 people has crashed.
The plane hit the ground and burst into a fireball in Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Christmas Day. It’s understood the Embraer E190AR, which had registration number 4K-AZ65, had sent a distress signal following a collision with a bird as it had intended to reach Grozny in Russia.
Forty-two people are likely to have died after the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed, Kazakhstan’s emergency ministry has said. As reported by the Mirror, others are in critical conditions.
Kazaeronavigatsiya, the Kazakhstan air navigation service, said: “An Embraer 190 AHY8243 aircraft travelling on the Baku-Grozny route declared an emergency situation due to collision with a bird and violation of steering control. The aircraft was carrying 105 passengers and five crew members.”
The plane declared the emergency situation at an altitude of 2,125 feet over the Caspian Sea. It hit a bird – or several birds – and then came plummeting down, smashing to the ground at speed. It is understood bad weather further impacted the plane’s emergency landing.
Of those on board the plane, around 60 are believed to be Russians. The nationalities of the other tourists so far remain unclear. Further details have also not yet been confirmed to the media as yet. Authorities in Kazakhstan continue the emergency operation.
Grozny – which was the planned destination – is the capital of the Chechnya republic, a Russian region controlled by Vladimir Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov which regularly sends troops to fight in the war against Ukraine.
The tragedy follows the death of a man in his 50s this week after a light aircraft in which he was travelling crashed near Fife Airport in Scotland.
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