Unlock the Editor’s Digest free of charge
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly e-newsletter.
An Azerbaijan Airways flight carrying 62 passengers and 5 crew has crashed whereas making an emergency touchdown at a Kazakhstan airport, with 29 survivors, together with two youngsters, taken to hospital.
Movies on native media confirmed a big explosion after the plane crashed into an empty discipline. Photos from the scene confirmed passengers climbing out of the tail of the fuselage aided by emergency employees.
These aboard had been from Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Russian state Ria information company reported, citing Kazakhstan’s transport ministry.
Native media shops reported that 9 of these taken to hospital had been in critical situation and that search and rescue operations had been underneath means.
The airplane, an Embraer 190, was travelling to Grozny within the southern Russian republic of Chechnya from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, however was diverted to Aktau after flying into heavy fog.
Early media reviews recommended that the flight hit a flock of birds, which affected management of the plane.
“After a collision with birds, resulting from an emergency scenario on board the plane, its commander determined to go to an alternate airfield and Aktau was chosen,” Ria reported, citing Russia’s aviation company Rosaviatsia. Native media additionally shared unconfirmed reviews of an explosion of an oxygen canister onboard, main many passengers to lose consciousness.
Baku has despatched an official delegation to Kazakhstan to research the incident, Azerbaijan’s APA information company stated. The nation’s president, Ilham Aliyev, left an off-the-cuff summit of the Commonwealth of Unbiased States in Russia to return to Baku. He expressed his condolences to affected households.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated Russian President Vladimir Putin had additionally prolonged his condolences to Azerbaijan’s chief.
Chechnya’s chief Ramzan Kadyrov expressed his condolences to the family members of the deceased on social media. “We pray to the Almighty for [the survivors’] restoration.”
Images on social media confirmed family members gathering in Grozny airport to listen to information of their family members.
One man at Grozny airport stated he had simply acquired a video by which he may see his nephew had survived the crash. “In fact I’m very completely satisfied,” he instructed a Ria information reporter.
