On Wednesday, an Embraer passenger plane carrying passengers from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed close to the Kazakh city of Aktau, killing 38 people and hospitalizing 29 survivors, according to Kazakh authorities.
Hundreds of miles off its planned course, Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 crashed on the opposite side of the Caspian Sea following an emergency that Russia’s aviation watchdog said may have been caused by a bird strike. But according to an aviation expert, that cause didn’t seem likely.
Shortly after drone strikes struck southern Russia, the crash occurred, though officials did not immediately explain why it had crossed the sea. The closest Russian airport on the plane’s flight path was closed Wednesday morning, and drone activity has previously closed airports in the region.
Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, stated that he had received information that the plane had altered its course because of adverse weather, but he also stated that the cause of the crash was unknown and needed to be thoroughly investigated.
“The Azerbaijani people are grieving greatly over this great tragedy,” he said.
The plane descended quickly, exploded into flames as it struck the shore, and thick black smoke rose, according to the crash’s video. A fragment of the fuselage that had survived showed passengers staggering, bloodied, and bruised.
Using identifiable landmarks, Reuters was able to confirm that the video was shot on the Caspian coast close to Aktau.
On board were five crew members and sixty-two passengers. Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev revealed the death toll during a meeting with an Azerbaijani delegation in Aktau, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
Following the extinguishment of the fire, the survivors, including two children, were receiving treatment at a nearby hospital. Retrieval efforts were underway to recover the deceased.
Around 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau in Kazakhstan, the Embraer 190 aircraft was en route to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia, according to Azerbaijan Airlines. However, Azerbaijan Airlines forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing.
“Preliminary: its commander decided to ‘go’ to an alternate airfield—Aktau was chosen due to an emergency situation on board following a collision with birds,” Russia’s aviation watchdog posted on Telegram.
According to Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at the consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, however, a plane that collides with birds usually lands in the closest field. “You can lose control of the plane, but you don’t fly wildly off course as a consequence.”
THE RUSSIAN AIRPORT WAS CLOSED TO FLOWERS
On the other side of the Caspian Sea from Russia and Azerbaijan is Aktau. Websites that track commercial aviation followed the northbound flight on its planned course along the west coast until its flight path was lost. After that, it made a comeback on the east coast, circling close to Aktau airport before slamming into the shore.
On Wednesday morning, authorities in Ingushetia and North Ossetia, two Russian regions that border Chechnya, reported drone strikes.
The airport nearest to where the flight vanished from radar has been closed to incoming traffic for several hours on Wednesday morning, according to an official at Makhachkala airport in Russia on the west coast of the Caspian, who spoke to Reuters. Reuters was unable to get in touch with Grozny airport officials right away.
A government commission has been established to look into what happened, according to Kazakhstani authorities, and its members have been instructed to fly to the scene and make sure the families of the deceased and injured are receiving the assistance they require.
According to the government, Kazakhstan will work with Azerbaijan on the inquiry. Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights from Baku to the Chechnya region of Russia until the investigation concluded. Russia’s official TASS news agency reported on the business.
President Vladimir Putin sent his sympathies. Azerbaijan’s president, Aliyev, had decided to go back home from Russia, where he was scheduled to attend a summit on Wednesday, according to his office.
The Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, issued a statement expressing his sympathies and saying that he and others would pray for the quick recovery of those receiving hospital treatment, some of whom were in extremely serious condition.
In a statement, aircraft manufacturer Embraer offered its condolences and pledged to assist the authorities in their work.
