Moscow, 25 December 2024 (dpa/MIA) - A total of 38 people died when an Azerbaijani aircraft crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Qanat Aldabergenuly Bozymbaev said on Wednesday.

Bozymbaev was speaking in an interview with the Kazakh news agency Tengrinews during a meeting with representatives of the investigation commission at the accident site.

A total of 29 occupants of the ill-fated Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft survived, some with serious injuries, he said.

Videos showed how the plane from Azerbaijan, almost out of control, crashed from a low altitude along the coast of the Caspian Sea, failing to reach the nearby airport of Aktau.

Tengrinews published a video from the cabin of the ill-fated aircraft, showing fallen oxygen masks, excited cries from passengers, and a recording of a bearded man repeatedly shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

The Embraer 190 aircraft took off in the morning from the Azerbaijani capital Baku and was supposed to fly to Grozny, capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya just over an hour later.

There were no official statements regarding the cause of the crash.

Why did aircraft not fly to destination airport?

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the aircraft could not land in Grozny due to poor weather conditions and therefore headed for an alternative airport.

Although many videos of the incident circulated on social media, he said, "The reasons for the crash are still unknown to us."

He noted that there are various theories, adding, "The matter must be thoroughly investigated," according to the state news agency Azertag.

Azerbaijan Airlines initially attributed the suspected damage to the aircraft to a possible collision with a flock of birds.

Russian military bloggers did not rule out another explanation: The aircraft might have entered zones over the North Caucasus where Ukrainian drones were being intercepted on Wednesday morning.

The online plane tracker Flightradar24 showed that the damaged aircraft had flown with only partial control over the Caspian Sea for the last 74 minutes.

Passengers survived in tail of aircraft

Upon impact, the short and medium-haul jet burst into flames, as videos on social media showed. According to photos, the rear section was less damaged. Survivors were reportedly rescued from this part of the wreckage. The front and middle sections, on the other hand, were destroyed.

The regional administration of Mangystau published a list of the injured, which included the names of two children.

An 11-year-old girl indicated that she lived in Germany but did not know her nationality. According to the list, 14 survivors were nationals of Azerbaijan, 10 of Russia, and two of Kyrgyzstan.

Azerbaijan Airlines suspended their flights to the Russian cities of Grozny and Makhachkala, capital of the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan.

Photo: EPA