Death toll in Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash at 38

ASTANA/TBILISI/BAKU — The death toll in the crash of the Embraer passenger jet near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday is now at 38, while 29 survivors received hospital treatment, Kazakh authorities said.

Flying from Azerbaijan to Russia, Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea, after what Russia's aviation watchdog said was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike. But an aviation expert suggested that cause seemed unlikely.

Officials did not immediately explain why it had crossed the sea, but the crash came shortly after drone strikes hit southern Russia. Drone activity has shut airports in the area in the past and the nearest Russian airport on the plane's flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said according to information he had received, the plane changed course due to poor weather, but he added the cause of the crash was unknown and must be fully investigated.

“This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people,” he said.

Video of the crash showed the plane descending rapidly before bursting into flames as it hit the seashore, and thick black smoke then rising. Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact.

Reuters was able to verify from visible landmarks that the video was filmed on the Caspian shore near Aktau.

Sixty-two passengers and five crew were aboard. The death toll was disclosed by Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev in a meeting with an Azerbaijani delegation in Aktau, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

Kazakhstan's emergencies ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that the survivors, including two children, were being treated at a nearby hospital. The bodies of the dead were being recovered.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 jet was flying from Baku to Grozny, capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia, but had been forced to make an emergency landing around 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau in Kazakhstan.

"Preliminary: after a collision with birds, due to an emergency situation on board, its commander decided to 'go' to an alternate airfield—Aktau was chosen," Russia's aviation watchdog said on Telegram.

But a collision with birds typically results in the plane landing in the nearest available field, said Richard Aboulafia, analyst at consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory. "You can lose control of the plane, but you don't fly wildly off course as a consequence."

Russian airport on flight path was shut

Aktau is on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan and Russia. Commercial aviation-tracking websites tracked the flight flying north on its scheduled route along the west coast before its flight path was no longer recorded. It then reappeared on the east coast, circling near Aktau airport before crashing into the beach.

Authorities in two Russian regions adjacent to Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia, reported drone strikes on Wednesday morning.

An official at Makhachkala airport in Russia on the west coast of the Caspian, the airport closest to where the flight disappeared from tracking, told Reuters it had been closed to incoming traffic for several hours on Wednesday morning. Reuters could not immediately reach officials at the airport in Grozny.

Authorities in Kazakhstan said a government commission had been set up to investigate what had happened and its members ordered to fly to the site and ensure that the families of the dead and injured were getting the help they needed.

Kazakhstan would cooperate with Azerbaijan on the investigation, the government said. Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights from Baku to Russia's Chechnya region until the investigation is complete. Russia's state TASS news agency reported, citing the company.

President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences. Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, had decided to return home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, his office said.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said some of those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.

In a statement, planemaker Embraer expressed its condolences and said it would support authorities' efforts. — Reuters