An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet crashed on Wednesday in western Kazakhstan, leaving about 35 dead and 14 hospitalised.
Azerbaijani authorities said 32 people had survived the crash of the Embraer ERJ-190 near the city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.
With Azerbaijan Airlines reported that 67 people were on board — 62 passengers and five crew members.
According to Flight Radar, the aircraft took off from Baku at 03:55 UTC time and was flying to Grozny.
“The aircraft was exposed to strong GPS jamming which made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data.
“At 04:40 UTC we lost the ADS-B signal. At 06:07 UTC we picked up the ADS-B signal again before it crashed at 06:28 UTC,” Flight Radar disclosed.
A video is currently trending on social media that shows the moment the plane losing altitude and making a rapid descent before it crashed and burst into flames.
The plane had reportedly requested an emergency landing before the incident.
However, it was re-routed due to a fog in Grozny.
“A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,” the Kazakh transport ministry said.
Kazakhstan’s emergency ministry says 42 people have likely died in the Azerbaijan Airlines’ plane crash, news agency AP reported.
Preliminary data shows 25 people have survived the crash, according to news agency Reuters which cited Kazakh authorities.
Fourteen survivors of the Azerbaijan Airlines crash in western Kazakhstan have been hospitalised, news agency AFP reported, citing local health officials.
“At the moment, 14 survivors have been taken to the regional hospital, including five in intensive care,” the report cited the health ministry’s regional department as having said in a statement.
