By Mariya Gordeyeva
ASTANA (Reuters) – An Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan with 62 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying 27 people had survived.
Unverified video of the crash showed the plane, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, burst into flames as it hit the ground and then billowed thick black smoke. Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen falling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact.
The Central Asian country’s Emergencies Ministry said in a statement that firefighters had extinguished the fire and that survivors, including three children, were being treated at a nearby hospital.
Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 plane, with flight number J2-8243, was flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russian Chechnya, but was forced to make an emergency landing about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau.
Russian news agencies said the plane had been diverted due to fog in Grozny.
Kazakh authorities said they had begun investigating different possible versions of what happened, including a technical problem, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a strike with a bird.
After the accident, Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan, was returning home from Russia, where he was due to attend a summit on Wednesday, the Russian news agency RIA reported.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said those being treated in the hospital were in extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their speedy recovery.