ASTANA, Kazakhstan — An Embraer passenger jet flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 62 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying 32 survivors had been rescued.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea near the city of Aktau after what Russia's aviation watchdog said was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike.
Reuters was able to verify from visible landmarks that the video was filmed on the Caspian shore near Aktau.
Kazakhstan's emergencies ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that the survivors, including two children, were being treated at a nearby hospital. The bodies of the dead were being recovered.
Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 jet was flying from Baku to Grozny, capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia, but had been forced to make an emergency landing around 1.8 miles from Aktau in Kazakhstan.
"Preliminary: after a collision with birds, due to an emergency situation on board, its commander decided to 'go' to an alternate airfield - Aktau was chosen," Russia's aviation watchdog said on Telegram.