Azerbaijani passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan, casualties feared

An Embraer 190 aircraft flight number J2-8243, with 62 passengers and five crew members on board, was forced to make an emergency landing on Wednesday about 3km (1.8 miles) from Aktau.

Twenty-nine people had survived the crash and were hospitalised.

The ministry initially reported 25 survivors of the crash, later updating the count to 27, then 28, and finally 29 as search and rescue efforts progressed at the crash site. The fate of the remaining victims is unclear.

The Kazakh emergency situations ministry said its staff put out a fire which broke out when the plane crashed and 150 emergency workers are at the scene.

Russia's aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cut short a visit to Russia where he had been due to attend an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet nations, his office said in a statement.

"A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines," the Kazakh transport ministry said on Telegram.

The Kazakh transport ministry said that of the plane's passengers, 37 were from Azerbaijan, six were from Kazakhstan, three were from Kyrgyzstan, and 16 were from Russia.

The plane's course on Flight Radar showed it crossing the Caspian Sea away from its normal route and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed.

Kazakhstan said it had opened an investigation into the crash.