A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan crashed in Akatu, Kazakhstan today following emergency landing requests, local media reported.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243, carrying 62 passengers and five crew members on an Embraer 190 aircraft, made an emergency landing about three kilometers from Aktau, leaving 32 survivors, some in critical condition, the ministry of Faoreign Affairs reported.
A preliminary investigation by Russia’s aviation watchdog said a bird strike forced the pilot to make an emergency landing.
Kazakhstan authorities said a government commission had been set up to investigate what happened.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev canceled his visit to Russia—where he was due to attend a summit in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev was forced to leave St. Petersburg. Putin has already called him and expressed his condolences in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijani plane in Aktau,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Al Jazeera.