30 Dead As Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Crashes In Kazakhstan [Watch]

New Delhi: Thirty people are feared dead after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed near Aktau city of Kazakhstan and burst into flames on Wednesday.

There were 62 people on board the Embraer 190 aircraft, which was flying from Azerbaijan capital Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya. Due to extremely foggy conditions in Grozny, the flight was rerouted.

“According to preliminary information, there are 32 survivors of whom 22 have been hospitalised,” Azerbaijan’s Emergencies Ministry said on Telegram.

Videos showing the aircraft losing altitude rapidly, crashing into an open field and bursting into flames went viral on social media.

The Kazakh Transport Ministry said flight J2-8243 was carrying 37 persons from Azerbaijan, 6 from Kazakhstan, 3 from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia, AFP reported.

A distress signal was transmitted after a collision with a flock of birds and a steering malfunction. The tried to gain speed and altitude, but the controls completely failed.

After an emergency landing at Aktau was requested, the plane took several circles before losing control and crashing close to the airport.

Images and videos showed ambulances at the crash site as rescue operation was underway.

Data from online flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed the aircraft flying over the Caspian Sea and heading towards its scheduled destination. After entering the territorial borders of Russia, the plane started circling near the airport, requesting an emergency landing. At 11.58 am (local time), the flight crashed in a field near the Caspian Sea shore.

According to FlightRadar24, the aircraft was exposed to “strong GPS jamming, which made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data.”