Four dead people have been found so far, Kazakh officials have announced.
The “Embraer 190” plane of the “Azerbaijan Airlines” airline company, which had 64 passengers and five crew members, crashed in a field about three kilometers from the airport of the western city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
Video footage shows the plane crashing into the ground at a 45-degree angle as it prepares to land, followed by an explosion.
The plane was traveling from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, to the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, in Russia’s North Caucasus, but was diverted to Aktau due to fog.
According to preliminary reports, the plane sent a distress signal over the Caspian Sea, the APA news agency of Azerbaijan reports. The cause of the accident was the collision of the plane with a flock of birds, the media reports, referring to the airline.
The Ministry of Emergencies of Kazakhstan said that 29 people survived, of which 27 were hospitalized. Two children are among the injured.
Citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were on board.
(The whole text has been added, the number of people on the plane has been clarified in the title)