Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, 42 feared dead; eyewitness video shows crash moment

An Embraer EMBR3.SA passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday(December 25) with 67 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying 12 people had survived. However, Information on FlightRadar24.com showed the flight was last seen near Aktau airport on Wednesday (December 25). The Central Asian country's emergency ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital. Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 aircraft, with flight number J2-8243, had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya, but had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau. Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny. Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into different possible versions of what had happened, including a technical problem, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.