A passenger onboard an Azerbaijan Airlines airplane that crashed in Kazakhstan has shared the last moments of the aircraft before it went down leaving dozens dead.
An Embraer 190 passenger plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines crashed on December 25, 2024, morning with 62 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan reported that 29 people survived the crash. All survivors were in the tail section of the plane.
The plane had taken off from Baku, Azerbaijan at 6:50am Moscow time and was scheduled to land in Grozny Chechnya-Russia, where Ukrainian drone attacks have been reported in recent weeks, at 8:20am.
However, just before landing in Grozny, the plane turned around and flew across the Caspian Sea towards Kazakhstan where it crashed near Aktau on the eastern shore of the Sea.
According to the Ministry, 29 people were hospitalized after the plane crash, 15 of whom were Azerbaijan citizens, 9 from Russia, 2 from Kyrgyzstan, while the citizenship of 3 more people is yet to be clarified.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported that 38 people died.
Following the crash, a video recorded by a survivor inside the plane revealed some of the last moments before the tragedy.
The video, which has since gone viral, was sent by the male passenger to his wife just minutes before the crash.
Last moments before plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines crashes
In the video, the man can be heard reciting the Shahadah (Muslim profession of faith) as the plane is about to make an emergency landing.
The video also shows yellow oxygen masks hanging from chairs, and the sound of screams and cries filling the air accompanied by the soft sound of lights “fasten your seat belts”.
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In other images and videos of the crash, the plane is seen plummeting before bursting into flames as it struck the shoreline, followed by a thick plume of black smoke.
Injured passengers were seen stumbling away from a piece of the plane’s fuselage that had remained intact.
The man who recorded the video of the last moments before the crash however survived, with his wife saying that he suffered a minor injury on his face.
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Statement by government
A joint statement by the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Azerbaijan Airlines announced that the bodies of passengers and crew members who lost their lives in the crash will be delivered to Azerbaijan in the near future.
“At the same time, injured passengers will be transported to Azerbaijan on a special AZAL flight, provided their health permits, based on medical assessments.
Relevant state agencies of both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are taking the necessary measures in this regard,” the statement reads in part.
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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that according to the information he had received, the plane changed course due to bad weather but added that the cause of the crash was unknown and needed to be thoroughly investigated.
“This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous pain for the Azerbaijani people,” he said.
Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended flights on the Baku-Grozny-Baku and Baku-Makhachkala-Baku routes until the investigation is concluded, with all other flights to be operated as scheduled.
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