Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, leaving 38 dead, 29 survivors, officials say
An Azerbaijani airliner carrying 67 people crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing at least 38 who were on board, according to a Kazakh authorities.
In a sprawling rescue operation, 29 survivors including two children were pulled from the wreckage, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said, adding that 11 were in critical condition.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 was traveling from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in the Russian region of Chechnya before it made an emergency landing approximately 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau, the carrier said.
Footage from the crash site captured the moment dazed survivors emerged from the charred plane. All of the survivors have been taken to hospitals, Kazakh authorities said earlier. None of those who survived were Kazakh nationals, the deputy prime minister said.
“The bodies are in poor condition, mostly burnt, all collected,” Bozumbayev said. “Now they will be in the morgue, and identification will take place.”
There is only one survivor whose identity remains unknown, according to Bozumbayev. “She is unconscious, has no documents, and is in the hospital,” he added.
A search team has located the plane’s black box, the Azerbaijan state news agency AZERTAC reported, and the Kazakhstan government has set up a commission to investigate the cause of the crash and assist passengers’ families. The government will cooperate with Azerbaijan on the investigation, it said.
