Azerbaijan Airlines said 67 people were on board – 62 passengers and five crew members.

The Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry reported earlier today that “28 survivors, including two children, were hospitalized.”

The Kazakh Transport Ministry said the plane was carrying 37 nationals from Azerbaijan, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia.

“A plane flying from Baku to Grozny crashed near the town of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,” the Kazakh Ministry of Transport said on Telegram.

Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s national carrier, said the plane “made an emergency landing” about 3 km from Aktau.

Kazakhstan said it had opened an investigation.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of national mourning and canceled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations.

“We cannot disclose any results of the investigation at this time,” Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

“All possible scenarios are being examined and the necessary assessments are underway,” the press release added.

He said an investigative team led by the Deputy Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan has been sent to Kazakhstan and is working at the accident site.

Kazakhstan’s Emergency Situations Ministry said its staff put out a fire that broke out when the plane crashed.

According to the press release, 150 rescuers were on site.

The Health Ministry said a special flight was being sent from Astana, the Kazakh capital, with specialist doctors to treat the injured.

Aliyev’s office said the president “ordered the rapid implementation of urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster.”

“I send my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the accident… and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Aliyev said in a message on social media.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Aliyev and also “expressed his condolences over the accident,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a news conference.

A Russian Emergency Situations Ministry was sent to Aktau with medical personnel and other equipment, Putin said later at the opening of the CIS leaders’ meeting in St. Petersburg.

Azerbaijan’s first lady Mehriban Aliyeva, who is also the country’s first vice president, said she was “deeply saddened by the news of the tragic loss of lives in the plane crash near Aktau.” .

“I send my most sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. I wish them strength and patience! I also wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” she said on Instagram.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Telegram: “I express my condolences to the relatives of the deceased passengers of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane. »

-Agence France-Presse