Kazakhstan: Number of survivors in Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash rises to 32; WATCH aftermath videos

An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people aboard crashed on Wednesday in the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, resulting in at least 32 survivors, according to officials. More than 30 people are believed to have died in the incident.

Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry reported via Telegram that the passengers included five crew members, and at least 29 people were hospitalized, as confirmed by Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.

Russian news agency Interfax quoted medical personnel stating that four bodies had been recovered, and emergency workers at the crash site indicated that both pilots, according to preliminary assessments, perished in the crash.

The Embraer 190 aircraft made an emergency landing 3 kilometers from the city, as reported by Azerbaijan Airlines.

Initially, Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry reported 25 survivors, later revising the figure to 27, then 28, and eventually 29 as the search and rescue efforts continued, leading to a decrease in the presumed death toll.

The Prosecutor General’s Office in Azerbaijan later confirmed that at least 32 people survived the crash, though it noted that the figure was not final.

The number of survivors suggests that more than 30 people may have died in the incident.

The plane was originally scheduled to fly from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny in Russia's North Caucasus. According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 37 of the passengers were Azerbaijani citizens, while the rest included 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani citizens, and three Kyrgyzstani nationals.

Bird strike behind plane crash

RIA Novosti quoted Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, stating that preliminary reports indicated the pilot diverted to Aktau after a bird strike caused an emergency situation on board.

Mobile phone footage circulating online seemed to show the aircraft descending steeply before crashing into the ground in a fireball. Additional footage showed part of the fuselage separated from the wings and the rest of the plane, lying upside down in the grass. The footage matched the plane's colors and registration number.

Some videos shared on social media showed survivors pulling fellow passengers away from the wreckage of the plane.

Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com revealed that the aircraft appeared to make a figure-eight maneuver as it neared Aktau airport, with its altitude fluctuating significantly in the final moments of the flight before it crashed.

FlightRadar24 also reported that the aircraft experienced “strong GPS jamming,” which resulted in inaccurate ADS-B data—information that helps flight-tracking websites monitor planes in flight. Russia has previously been accused of jamming GPS signals in the region.

Azerbaijan Airlines, in a statement, said it would continue to update the public and changed its social media banners to solid black.

Azerbaijan’s state news agency, Azertac, reported that an official delegation, including Azerbaijan’s emergency situations minister, the deputy general prosecutor, and the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines, had been sent to Aktau to conduct an “on-site investigation.”

Azerbaijani President expresses condolences

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was en route to St. Petersburg, returned to Azerbaijan upon hearing news of the crash, according to the president’s press service. Aliyev had been scheduled to attend an informal meeting of the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a group of former Soviet countries established after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media. “It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured,” he wrote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with President Aliyev on the phone to offer his condolences, as confirmed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.