Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Requested Emergency Landing Before Crashing

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane, which crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, had reportedly requested an emergency landing before the incident. The flight was carrying 67 passengers onboard, including five crew members. According to reports, the plane was flying from Baku to Grozny in Russia's Chechnya. However, it was re-routed due to a fog in Grozny.

"A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines," the Kazakh transport ministry said.

The plane, Embraer 190, had initially made an emergency landing around three kilometers from Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.

Videos on social media showed the aircraft rapidly losing altitude and bursting into flames upon crashing.

BREAKING: Azerbaijan Airlines flight traveling from Baku to Grozny crashes in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after reportedly requesting an emergency landing pic.twitter.com/hB5toqEFe2

— RT (@RT_com) December 25, 2024

Preliminary information revealed that 29 people have been rescued so far. Several visuals also showed ambulances at the crash site as the survivors were being deboarded from the emergency exit located at the rear end of the aircraft.

According to the country's emergencies ministry, the fire services have put out the blaze and the survivors are being treated at a nearby hospital.

"At the moment, 14 survivors have been taken to the regional hospital, including five in intensive care," the health ministry's regional department said in a statement, reported AFP.

The online flight tracking website, FlightRadar24, showed the aircraft flying over the Caspian Sea and heading towards Chechnya. The aircraft entered the territorial borders of Russia and started circling near the airport, requesting an emergency landing. At 6:28 am UTC (11:58 am), the flight crashed near the Caspian Sea shore, a few kilometres away from the airport.

It also said that the aircraft was exposed to "strong GPS jamming, which made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data."

Flight #J28243 that crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan is an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer ERJ-190 with registration 4K-AZ65.#J28243 took off from Baku at 03:55 UTC time and was flying to Grozny. The aircraft was exposed to strong GPS jamming which made the aircraft… pic.twitter.com/rM1Q0jmMPt

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 25, 2024

The exact cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained.