This is the horrific moment a passenger plane with 72 people on board hit the ground in a fireball in a Christmas Day crash landing in Kazakhstan.
There were 67 passengers and five crew members on board the Azerbaijan airlines fight from Azerbaijan capital Baku to Russian city Grozny.
Footage from the crash indicated that the plane caught fire upon impact with the ground, followed by the emergence of thick black smoke. Passengers, some with visible injuries, were observed coming out of a part of the fuselage that had remained relatively intact.
Upon landing in Aktau, located in western Kazakhstan, the aircraft burst into flames and fragmented into multiple sections. The nation’s emergency situations ministry reported that its staff were actively extinguishing a fire at the crash site.
The regional health department announced that 14 survivors, with five in critical condition, had been transported to the local hospital for treatment. This update was provided in response to the tragic incident.
The ministry later said that 28 people survived the crash, seven of which are in serious condition. At least 22 survivors are being treated in hospital and two of those are children, according to the ministry.
At least 10 people were confirmed as dead after the Embraer 190 crash, reported as being thrown out of the cabin. More than 40 people are feared to have died.
Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the Embraer 190 had ‘made an emergency landing’ around three kilometres from Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.
‘A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,’ the Kazakh ministry said on Telegram.
The Embraer E190AR with registration number 4K-AZ65 sent out a distress signal at an altitude of 2,125 feet over the Caspian Sea.
According to survivors, a bird got into the engine of the aircraft, ‘after which an oxygen tank exploded on board’. ‘People on board began to lose consciousness,’ said a report.
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.
Dramatic new footage showed the pilot pulling the plane out of a steep fall as he sought to regain control.
But the aircraft still suffered a catastrophic crash exploding in fire. The two main sites of the wreck at Aktau airport were hundreds of yards apart.
Mangled human remains from the horror crash were strewn on rough ground at the airport.
Dazed and bloodied passengers are seen emerging from the severed rear of the plane. Some sat in shock on the ground after escaping from the aircraft. Others managed to walk clear.
Meanwhile the front of the aircraft – torn asunder by the crash – could be seen ablaze in the distance.
The plane attempted to land at Aktau in western Kazakhstan after being rerouted from Grozny and another Russian city Makhachkala due to fog.
Two of the 28 survivors are children, believed to be girls aged 11 and 16.
‘They are receiving all the necessary medical care in hospitals in the region,’ said the Ministry of Health. ’23 ambulance teams were mobilised to the scene of the incident.’
Unconfirmed reports said that both pilots died in the crash, and from the crew only a female flight attendant survived.
Tengrinews reported 37 citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 of Russia, six of Kazakhstan and three of Kyrgyzstan were on board the stricken plane.
Following the crash, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, was returning home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.
Aktau residents have been asked to donate blood for the survivors.
Authorities in Kazakhstan said a government commission had been set up to investigate what had happened and its members ordered to fly to the site and ensure that the families of the dead and injured were getting the help they needed.
Kazakhstan would cooperate with Azerbaijan on the investigation, the government said.
Grozny – the destination – is the capital of the Chechnya republic, a Russian region controlled by Vladimir Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov which regularly sends troops to fight in the war against Ukraine.
