More than 30 killed after Russia-bound Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan

More than 30 killed after Russia-bound Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan

An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors, a Kazakh official said.

Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev disclosed the figures while meeting with Azerbaijani officials, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

The Embraer 190 was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus when it was diverted and attempted an emergency landing three kilometres from Aktau, Azerbaijan Airlines said.

Speaking at a news conference, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, but said that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course.

“The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he said.

Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information showed that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.

According to Kazakh officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general’s office previously said that 32 of the 67 people on board had survived the crash, but told journalists that the number wasn’t final.

The Associated Press could not immediately reconcile the difference between the numbers of survivors given by Kazakhstan and Azerbaijani officials.

Kazakhstan’s main transport prosecutor, Timur Suleimenov, told a briefing in the country’s capital Astana that the plane’s black box, which contains flight data to help determine the cause of a crash, had been found, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings, with the rest of the aircraft upside down in the grass. The footage corresponded to the plane’s colours and its registration number.

Some of the videos posted on social media showed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage.

Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed the aircraft making what appeared to be a figure eight once nearing the airport in Aktau, its altitude moving up and down substantially over the last minutes of the flight before it hit the ground.

FlightRadar24 separately said in an online post that the aircraft had faced “strong GPS jamming,” which “made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data,” referring to the information that allows flight-tracking websites to follow planes in flight. Russia has been blamed in the past for jamming GPS transmissions in the wider region.

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.

Azerbaijan’s state news agency, Azertac, said that an official delegation of Azerbaijan’s emergency situations minister, the deputy general prosecutor and the vice-president of Azerbaijan Airlines were sent to Aktau to conduct an “on-site investigation.”

Multi-national investigation

Aliyev, who was travelling to Russia, returned to Azerbaijan on hearing news of the crash, the president’s media service said. He was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a bloc of former Soviet countries founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St. Petersburg.

Aliyev posted a statement on social media, saying, “It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured.” 

He also signed a decree declaring Dec. 26 a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the phone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Speaking at the CIS meeting in St. Petersburg, Putin also said that Russia’s Emergency Ministry sent a plane with equipment and medical workers to Kazakhstan to assist with the aftermath of the crash.

Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities said they were investigating the crash. Embraer told The Associated Press in a statement that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”

Published at Wed, 25 Dec 2024 14:24:15 +0000

Russia targets Ukrainian energy infrastructure during Christmas Day attack

Russia launched a massive missile and drone barrage targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Wednesday, striking a thermal power plant and prompting Ukrainians to take shelter in metro stations on Christmas morning.

The strikes on Ukrainian fuel and energy sources included 78 air-, ground- and sea-launched missiles as well as 106 Shaheds and other types of drones, Ukraine’s air force said. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones, with 52 more drones being jammed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that Russian President Vladimir Putin “deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhumane? They continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine.” 

In Russia, meanwhile, one woman died and three people were wounded after falling debris from a downed drone sparked a fire in a shopping mall in the city of Vladikavkaz.

The head of Russia’s republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Sergey Menyaylo, said security footage showed that the explosion took place outside the Alania Mall Wednesday morning.

At least one person was killed in Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s Dnipro region, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on messaging app Telegram, adding that heating was disrupted for 155 residential buildings in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. He also said 500,000 recipients or 2,677 buildings in Kharkiv region were without heat.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said one Russian missile passed Moldovan and Romanian airspace. 

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Russia again “massively attacks energy infrastructure,” in a Facebook statement. Ukraine’s Air Force alerted multiple missiles fired at Kharkiv, Dnipro and Poltava regions east of the country. 

Halushchenko said the power distributor took the necessary measures to limit consumption. “As soon as the security situation allows, energy workers will establish the damage caused,” he said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday it had conducted a “massive strike” on what it said were critical energy facilities in Ukraine that support the work of Kyiv’s military-industrial complex.

“The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that Russian forces had also taken control of the settlement of Vidrodzhennia in eastern Ukraine.

In a statement, U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the “outrageous” attack and said he’d asked the U.S. Defence Department to push forward with a new surge of military aid to Kyiv.

“Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman,” Biden’s statement said. “More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones.”

More than a dozen attacks on Ukraine’s power grid

Ukraine’s biggest private energy company, DTEK, said Russia struck one of their thermal power plants Wednesday morning, making it the 13th attack on Ukraine’s power grid this year.

“Denying light and warmth to millions of peace-loving people as they celebrate Christmas is a depraved and evil act that must be answered,” Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, wrote on X.

Ukrainian state energy operator, Ukrenergo, applied preemptive power outages across the country, due to a “massive missile attack,” leading to electricity going out in several districts of the capital, Kyiv.

At least seven strikes targeted Kharkiv, sparking fires across the city, regional head Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At least three people were injured, local authorities said.

“Kharkiv is under massive missile fire. A series of explosions rang out in the city and there are still ballistic missiles flying in the direction of the city. Stay in safe places,” Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said in its report Wednesday that it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Bryansk and Tambov regions, as well as over the Azov Sea. It did not mention the incident in North Ossetia-Alania.

Four people were also killed as a result of Ukrainian shelling in the town of Lgov in the Kursk region, regional head Alexander Khinshtein said. Three people died after several residential blocks and a beauty salon were hit, he said. Another person later died in a hospital.

Published at Wed, 25 Dec 2024 11:12:54 +0000