Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, crash near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, December 25. The Embraer aircraft, operating flight J2-8243, was carrying 62 passengers and five crew members.
“A plane on the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belonged to Azerbaijan Airlines,” Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement as reported by AFP.
The aircraft reportedly caught fire while attempting an emergency landing approximately three kilometers from Aktau Airport on Kazakhstan’s eastern Caspian Sea coast.
Sequence of Events
Azerbaijan airlines flight J2-8243 departed from Baku en route to Grozny, Chechnya, carrying 62 passengers and five crew members. Tt was reported that thick fog over Grozny, forcing the pilot to divert to Aktau Airport.
During the flight, data from FlightRadar24 indicated the aircraft experienced severe GPS signal disruptions, leading to inaccurate ADS-B flight data transmission.
As it approached Aktau, the plane was observed making sharp right turns and experiencing significant altitude fluctuations. In the final minutes before the crash, the pilot reportedly attempted an emergency landing after the plane struck a bird.
The aircraft crashed approximately three kilometers from Aktau Airport, triggering an explosion and a massive fire. Parts of the fuselage were scattered across the crash site, with some sections overturned in the grassy terrain.
Amateur video footage captured the plane hitting the ground hard and crash, followed by plumes of thick black smoke rising into the sky.
“At 12:05 PM local time, the fire was successfully extinguished. A total of 287 personnel and 65 units of equipment were involved in the rescue operation,” said Kayrat Zhanaspayev, a representative from Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry, as reported by Reuters.
Casualties and Rescue Efforts
From the incident, 32 people have been reported as survivors, including three children. Injured survivors were rushed to nearby hospitals, with several in critical condition.
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More than 150 rescue personnel, including specialized medical teams from Astana, were deployed to assist in evacuation and recovery efforts. Four bodies have been recovered, though the total death toll remains unclear.
The Kazakh government has formed a special commission to investigate the cause of the Azerbaijan airlines plane crash, examining technical issues and potential external factors. Kazakhstan is also coordinating with Azerbaijan authorities as part of the investigation process.
(Raidi/Agung)
