Thirty-two people survived the initial impact of a plane crash in Kazakhstan’s Aqtau city Wednesday afternoon. Twenty-two, including a 11-year-old girl and a 16-year-old teen, were hospitalised.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergencies said there were at least 30 confirmed deaths. The plane – an Azerbaijan Airlines jet carrying 62 passengers and five crew – was flying from Baku to Russia’s Grozny.
Fog at the destination caused it to be re-routed to Aqtau, which is around 1,800 km away. However, as the plane approached Aqtau International Airport an (as yet) unspecified crisis triggered an emergency landing request. Tragically the aircraft, an Embraer ERJ-190, never made it that far.
Initial reports suggest the plane was hit by a flock of birds, causing a possible steering malfunction and/or damaging one engine. The pilots tried to regain speed and altitude but the controls failed.
The Kazakh Transport Ministry said 37 of the plane’s passengers were from Azerbaijan, six were from Kazakhstan, three were from Kyrgyzstan, and 16 were from Russia.
A video shared by Kazakh’s ORDA news agency showed some survivors being helped out from under the wreckage; one shot showed an elderly man stumbling away with blood on his head, while another showed a young woman in a white coat wandering around the wreckage in apparent shock.
In the same video a young boy – his jacket stained with blood and dirt – is helped by an emergency services personnel. Meanwhile, in the distance the other half of the plane can be seen, still burning
