A passenger plane from Azerbaijan Airlines burst into flames after crashing near the Aktau city of Kazakhstan, the country’s Emergencies Ministry said.

The Embraer 190 plane was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grzony in Russia’s Chechnya but was rerouted due to fog in Grozny. Sixty-two passengers were onboard the plane along with five crew members, and reports suggest a few people have survived the crash.

A video showed the aircraft rapidly losing altitude and started banking to its right. It crashed into an open field and burst into flames.

BREAKING: Azerbaijan Airlines flight traveling from Baku to Grozny crashes in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after reportedly requesting an emergency landing pic.twitter.com/hB5toqEFe2

— RT (@RT_com) December 25, 2024

The crash took place near the airport. The plane reportedly took several circles, requesting an emergency landing, but it stalled and crashed.

Visuals showed ambulances at the crash site and some people were being rescued and deboarding from the emergency exit located at the rear end of the aircraft. The aircraft registration number, 4K-AZ65, visible in the video matches with the data available on FlightRadar24. 

Data from the online flight tracking website, FlightRadar24, showed the aircraft flying over the Caspian Sea and heading towards its destination, in Chechnya. The aircraft entered the territorial borders of Russia and started circling near the airport, requesting an emergency landing. At 6:28 am UTC (11:58 am), the flight crashed near the Caspian Sea shore, a few kilometres away from the airport. 

Flight #J28243 that crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan is an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer ERJ-190 with registration 4K-AZ65.#J28243 took off from Baku at 03:55 UTC time and was flying to Grozny. The aircraft was exposed to strong GPS jamming which made the aircraft… pic.twitter.com/rM1Q0jmMPt

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 25, 2024

Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the Embraer 190 had “made an emergency landing” around three kilometres from Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, news agency AFP reported.

More details to follow.

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane, which crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, had reportedly requested an emergency landing before the incident. The flight was carrying 67 passengers onboard, including five crew members. According to reports, the plane was flying from Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya. However, it was re-routed due to a fog in Grozny.

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

The plane, Embraer 190, had initially made an emergency landing around three kilometers from Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.

Videos on social media showed the aircraft rapidly losing altitude and bursting into flames upon crashing.

BREAKING: Azerbaijan Airlines flight traveling from Baku to Grozny crashes in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after reportedly requesting an emergency landing pic.twitter.com/hB5toqEFe2

— RT (@RT_com) December 25, 2024

It is not yet clear how many people have died, but preliminary information revealed that there are some survivors.

According to the country’s emergencies ministry, the fire services have put out the blaze and the survivors are being treated at a nearby hospital, reported news agency Reuters.

Central agencies have been asked to arrest Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and raid the homes of all senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in an attempt to disrupt AAP’s Assembly polls preparations, the party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal said today.

Addressing a press meet hours after two Delhi departments red-flagged the Atishi-led government’s Mahila Samman Yojana and Sanjeevani Yojana, Mr Kejriwal said the BJP has conspired to inconvenience Delhi residents for the past 10 years. “They kept stopping Delhi government’s work through the Lieutenant Governor. But the Delhi government kept working. When all these conspiracies failed, they started sending top AAP leaders and ministers to jail. Work still did not stop. The BJP can now see it is headed for a historic defeat. They have no narrative,” Mr Kejriwal said.

The AAP national convener said BJP has a “half-government” in Delhi with seven MPs and the Lieutenant Governor. “In these 10 years, they did not build a single road, hospital, school, or college. Delhi’s people gave them one job: law and order. They ruined that too. People are living in fear. They can’t say what work they have done and what they will do if you vote for them. They are just abusing Kejriwal and asking for votes. They have no Chief Minister face or agenda,” he said.

AAP, he said, is running a positive campaign. “We are telling people about our work, we bettered schools, and hospitals, provided free power round the clock, gave water supply, brought free bus rides for women, pilgrimages for elderly. And then we are asking for votes.”

Mr Kejriwal said there is immense excitement among Delhi residents to register for Mahila Samman Yojana promising Rs 2,100 for women every month and Sanjeevani Yojana for free treatment to the elderly. “This has rattled the BJP, we have come to know from our sources that ED, CBI and Income Tax have met. There are orders from the top to arrest Delhi Chief Minister Atishi in a false case. Before that, senior AAP leaders, including me, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Satyendra Jain. The objective is to distract us from the poll campaign,” he alleged.

The AAP leader alleged that a false case is being prepped against Atishi in the Delhi transport department and the goal is to stop free bus rides for women. “We believe people will reply to this dirty conspiracy. The people of this country do not support this kind of politics.”

“Notices Are Lies”: Atishi

Chief Minister Atishi said that truth shall prevail even if she is arrested in a false case. “We trust the judiciary. They sent all our top leaders to jail in false cases, but the truth eventually came out and they got bail.” She said the BJP must know that the “people are watching”.

On the newspaper notices issued by Delhi’s health and women and child development departments, blocking the two schemes announced by AAP, Ms Atishi said, “The notices published in newspapers are wrong, lies. BJP has pressured officials and got this wrong information published in newspapers. These officials will face administrative as well as police action.”

Referring to the notice that said there was no Mahila Samman Yojana, she held up a piece of paper and said, “Delhi government has taken a cabinet decision on the Mahila Samman Yojana and this notification is in the public domain. We have notified the scheme to provide Rs 1,000 per month to women. Later, Arvind Kejriwal gave a guarantee that we would provide Rs 2,100 per month when we form the government after the election. He also announced Sanjeevani Yojana to provide free medical treatment to the elderly. This is clearly AAP’s announcement, Arvind Kejriwal’s guarantee that Sanjeevani will be brought and amount hiked to Rs 2,100 after the government is formed.”