(LONDON) — An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan’s Aktau Airport close to the Caspian Sea on Wednesday morning, Kazakh authorities said, with up to 40 people feared dead.
The aircraft was was flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, the Transport Ministry said in a post to its official Telegram channel. It was rerouted to Aktau in Kazakhstan due to fog in Grozny, Russian news agencies reported.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations told ABC News that the plane was carrying 69 people — 64 passengers and five crew members. The ministry said 29 people survived the crash, with many hospitalized.
Two children were among those hospitalized, the ministry said in a post to its Telegram channel.
Kazakhstan’s deputy health minister told ABC News that some of those taken to hospital are in critical condition.
Kazakh authorities have initiated an investigation into the crash, focusing on reported bird strike, mechanical failure and the decision to reroute the flight due to adverse weather conditions, Kazakh aviation authorities told ABC News.
Among the passengers were 37 Azerbaijani citizens, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia, the Transport Ministry said in a statement, citing “preliminary data.”
Azerbaijan Airlines said in a post to X that the aircraft “made an emergency landing” around 2 miles from Aktau. The aircraft was an Embraer 190 model with flight number J2-8243, it said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Tomek Rolski and Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.
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