Kazakhstan. A passenger plane crashed. First information about the causes of the tragedy and the number of victims

Azerbaijan Airlines flight Embraer 190 was flying from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny in Chechnya, but was diverted due to fog in Grozny, news agencies reported on Wednesday morning. The machine crashed near the city of Aktau, located on the Caspian Sea. The country's authorities said there were 62 passengers and five crew members on board.

The country's authorities keep informed about the survivors of the disaster. According to the latest data provided by Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev, 38 people died.

Bozumbayev, who headed the commission investigating the causes of the disaster, also said that 29 people survived the accident, of which 11 were in a serious condition. He added that the bodies of most of the victims were burned to such an extent that a special procedure for identifying the bodies would be necessary.

The victims of the disaster include citizens of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia. There were also three passengers with Kyrgyz citizenship on board the plane, all of them survived, said Kazakhstan's Minister of Transport, Marat Karabayev.

The Deputy Prime Minister confirmed earlier assumptions that the most likely cause of the disaster was the loss of control of the machine as a result of a collision with a flock of birds, which the pilots informed the air traffic controller in Aktau.

However, the Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister stressed that this was a preliminary version under consideration. – We have to read the black box, interview eyewitnesses and the air services. Now all forces and resources are involved and only then will we have the initial causes of the disaster, he added.

The authorities also reported that the plane's black box had already been found and would constitute evidence in a case initiated under the article regarding violation of the rules on the operation of motor vehicles.

Several videos showing the moment the plane crashed appeared on social media. They show how the machine flies lower and lower and hits the ground, followed by an explosion. The recording was also made available by Reuters. Some recordings show injured passengers trying to get out of the destroyed machine.

According to the Kazakhstan portal Orda, which cites the country's authorities, there was thick fog over Grozny, which meant that the plane was to be sent to an alternate airport in the capital of Russian Dagestan – Makhachkala.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the plane made an emergency landing about three kilometers from the Kazakh city of Aktau. Due to the fact that to reach Makhachkala it would be necessary to fly over a mountain range, the plane was redirected to the city of Aktau in western Kazakhstan, located on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea.

The machine was manufactured in 2013. At first it was used by Azerbaijan Airlines, then it flew in the low-budget Buta Airways, de facto owned by Azerbaijan Airlines, and then returned to the parent carrier.

“Today is an extremely difficult and tragic day for Azerbaijan Airlines. We mourn with the families of the passengers and crew members who died in the crash of the Embraer-190 plane near Aktau and we express our sincere condolences to them. Their pain is our pain. We wish the injured a quick return. to health,” the airline said in a statement. December 26 was declared a day of national mourning in Azerbaijan.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, also expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and wished the survivors a speedy recovery.