At least 38 people have died after a passenger plane descended rapidly and crash laned off the coast of the Caspian Sea.
The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia.
However it would sadly fail to make it to its destination and crashed on Wednesday morning (December 25)
According to Kazakh officials, the people on board were citizens of four different countries, 42 Azerbaijani citizens,16 Russian citizens, 6 Kazakh citizens, 3 Kyrgyz citizens.
There are 32 survivors, including two children. However there are many in critical condition and 38 people have confirmed to have died.
Authorities across Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia are investigating the plane crash in a bid to understand what happened.
Speaking of the incident, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev warned against speculation at this time as investigations are still in the early stages.
He said: “There are videos of the plane crash available in the media and on social networks, and everyone can watch them. However, the reasons for the crash are not yet known to us.
“There are various theories, but I believe it is premature to discuss them.”
According to reports, the plane had to reroute before the crash.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said that the plane suffered a bird strike which resulted in an emergency situation on the aircraft.
However, it also had to divert from its original route due to heavy fog and was intending to make an emergency landing.
President Aliyev also said: “According to the information provided to me, the AZAL airline plane, flying on the Baku-Grozny route, changed its course due to worsening weather conditions and began heading toward Aktau airport, where the crash occurred during landing.”
Aliyev did confirm that a ‘criminal case has been launched’ as part of the investigation and insisted the public would be informed about updates.
Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova also reported from Moscow that according to preliminary reports the aircraft requested landing at an alternative airport before the accident due to the fog.
The nearest Russian airport, Makhachkala, was closed earlier in the day due to drone activity.
In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public updated and changed its social media banners to solid black. It also said that it would suspend flights between Baku and Grozny, as well as between Baku and the city of Makhachkala in Russia’s North Caucasus, until its investigation into the crash has been concluded.
