Plane heading for Chechen capital Grozny crashes in Kazakhstan

A passenger plane flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, crashed while coming into land at Aqtau Airport in southwestern Kazakhstan on Wednesday, local Telegram channel Orda has reported.

The 67 people on board — 62 passengers and five crew members — included 16 Russians, 37 Azerbaijanis, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyz, state-affiliated news outlet RBC said. Of those, 29 are known to have survived, according to the Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry, over 20 of whom have been hospitalised.

Four bodies were found at the crash site, according to Interfax Kazakhstan, citing the Mangystau regional health department, but the exact death toll has not been confirmed.

The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 was on a scheduled flight to Grozny, in the North Caucasus, but was diverted to Makhachkala, in neighbouring Dagestan, and then to Aqtau due to fog. Kazaeronavigatsia, a company which provides air navigation services in Kazakhstan, said the plane had transmitted an alarm signal after colliding with a flock of birds, causing the navigation system to malfunction.

The authorities in Kazakhstan have opened an investigation into whether any safety procedures were breached during the flight.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has cut short his engagements at a CIS summit in Russia to return to Baku, while the authorities in Moscow and Grozny have sent their condolences.