Passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashes in Kazakhstan with many feared dead

An Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 67 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying 12 people had survived.

Unverified video of the crash showed the plane, which was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, bursting into flames as it hit the ground and thick black smoke then rising.

The Central Asian country's emergencies ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 aircraft, with flight number J2-8243, had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya, but had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau.

Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.

Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into different possible versions of what had happened, including a technical problem, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

Source: Reuters