It was black Christmas in western Kazakhstan, near the city of Aktau, Wednesday, as an Azerbaijani airliner crashed with 67 people on board.
But officials said at least 32 people survived, and more than 30 people are likely dead.
CBS News reported that Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry has disclosed, said in a Telegram statement, that those on board included five crew members. And at least 29 people have been hospitalized, the ministry added.
The Russian news agency Interfax quoted emergency workers at the scene as saying a preliminary assessment showed both pilots died in the crash.
Earlier, Azerbaijan Airlines revealed that the ill-fated Embraer 190 aircraft had attempted to make an emergency landing roughly two miles from Aktau.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry initially said 25 people survived the crash, later revising that number to 27, 28 and then 29 as the search and rescue operation continued at the site of the crash, bringing the apparent death toll down.
The Prosecutor General’s Office in Azerbaijan later reported that at least 32 people survived the crash, adding that the number wasn’t final.
The plane was originally scheduled to travel from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus.
A spokesperson for Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said preliminary information showed the pilot had chosen to divert to Aktau after a bird strike on the airliner led to “an emergency situation on board.”
