A passenger plane has crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday and initial reports suggested there were survivors, the country’s emergencies ministry said.
The ministry said emergency services were trying to put out a fire at the crash site.
“A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,” Kazakhstan’s transport ministry said on Telegram.
The Kazakh transport ministry said there were 62 passengers and five crew members on the plane.
Russian news agencies said the plane had been flying from Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya, but had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
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.
“Information about casualties is currently being clarified but, according to preliminary information, there are survivors,” the emergency ministry said.
More details soon …