According to available data, 32 people survived the crash of an AZAL (Azerbaijan Airlines) plane flying from Baku to Grozny that crashed near Aktau airport in Kazakhstan. This was stated by a representative of the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan, Kiyan Zeynalov, at a briefing on Wednesday, UNN reports citing Report.az.
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According to him, the criminal case is currently being investigated jointly with the prosecutor's office of Kazakhstan.
"We cannot report any results of the investigation. All versions are being investigated, and relevant examinations are being conducted. An investigation team led by the Deputy Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan has been sent to Kazakhstan and is working at the scene," Zeinalov said.
According to the Baza telegram channel, the crashed Embraer 190 had been flying for more than 50 minutes with control systems that failed.
Baza's source at Aktau airport reported that they received information about the emergency on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane from a Rostov-on-Don air traffic controller. The pilots allegedly reported at 8:35 a.m. that the plane had collided with birds, after which a gas cylinder exploded on board the Embraer and the control systems failed. After that, the ATC requested a direct landing at Aktau airport, Baza reports.
"The pilots were controlling the plane only with engine thrust - the altitude rudders did not work. When the plane was approaching the coast, the crew made several turns - according to sources, the ATC could not create a landing configuration for landing at the airport and decided to land the plane on a site selected from the air," the report said.
At 9:29 a.m., the plane made a hard landing - the front of the Embraer collapsed and caught fire, but the tail section remained intact. All the survivors were there, according to Baza.
It was reported that there were 67 passengers and 5 crew members on board the Embraer. At the same time, according to Kazakh media, there were 105 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
Airplane crash in Kazakhstan: preliminary, 25 passengers survived25.12.24, 10:20