ASTANA – President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev thanked Kazakhstan for prompt search and rescue measures and emergency aid following the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane near Aktau in western Kazakhstan on Dec. 25, reported the Akorda press service.
A total of 492 personnel and 102 units of equipment, along with two aircraft and 10 canine teams, were involved in the search and rescue effort. Photo credit: Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry
In a Dec. 27 phone conversation with Aliyev, Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev discussed the progress of work of the special state commission to investigate the crash and assured that the Kazakh side will make every effort to ensure comprehensive and objective clarification of all circumstances of the crash.
The two leaders exchanged condolences and expressed words of support to family members and loved ones of the victims of the crash. They agreed that the governments of the two countries would be in close contact during the investigation.
Azerbaijan’s presidential press office said Aliyev “highly appreciated the work of Kazakh rescuers who immediately took necessary measures and actively participated in the rescue of injured passengers.”
“At the same time, the President of Azerbaijan thanked the medical personnel of Kazakhstan, expressing gratitude for their caring approach to the injured and professional provision of medical services, emphasized that most of the wounded have already returned to their homeland, but there are still Azerbaijani citizens undergoing treatment there,” reads the statement.
Aliyev also expressed gratitude for the solidarity of the citizens of Kazakhstan with Azerbaijan. Following the news about the emergency landing, people in Aktau rushed to hospitals to donate blood.
Timeline of the plane’s emergency landing
The Embraer 190 aircraft, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines and en route from Baku to Grozny (Chechnya), crashed three kilometers from the city of Aktau on Dec. 25. Sixty-two passengers and five crew members were on board. Thirty-nine were killed, and 29 passengers, including three children, survived.
President Tokayev immediately directed the government to set up a special commission to investigate the crash. Photo credit: Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry
The passengers included 37 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian citizens, six Kazakh citizens, and three Kyrgyz citizens. All Kazakh nationals on board died in the crash.
The circumstances around the crash remain unclear. Kazakhstan set up a special commission led by Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev to investigate the plane crash.
Kazakh Transport Minister Marat Karabayev detailed the timeline at a Dec. 26 press briefing in Aktau. According to Karabayev, Kazakhstan’s Aktobe regional control center received the initial signal regarding the Embraer-190 aircraft diverting from Grozny at 10.43 a.m. The aircraft’s elevator and control systems had malfunctioned, and the crew struggled to maintain a steady altitude and path. After analyzing meteorological data for Baku and Makhachkala, the crew chose to fly to Aktau.
At 10.53 a.m., the Rostov flight director notified Aktau’s control tower that an oxygen cylinder had exploded in the passenger cabin, causing passengers to lose consciousness and requiring rapid medical assistance upon landing. A flight director at Kazaeronavigatsia, Kazakhstan’s leading operator in air navigation services, promptly communicated the emergency aircraft’s arrival at Aktau airport to the fire department and medical staff.
Upon entering Kazakhstan’s airspace, the flight crew checked in with air traffic control, which promptly activated runway lights and took all necessary steps to guide the aircraft.
Karabayev said the crew made two attempts to land on the runway but encountered severe altitude fluctuations. At 11:28 a.m., communication with the plane was lost, and the aircraft hit the ground.
Latest updates
According to the Kazakh Transport Ministry, representatives from the Embraer aircraft manufacturer in Brazil arrived in Aktau on Dec. 27 in accordance with Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention. Representatives from the Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents are expected to arrive in the country in the coming days.
Two black boxes have been recovered. Photo credit: Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry
Türkiye also sent its expert team on Dec. 27 to assist in the investigation at the request of Azerbaijan’s Civil Aviation Agency, announced Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Türkiye Abdulkadir Uraloğlu on his social media account.
An eight-member team from Türkiye will join the efforts to “determine the causes of the accident, conduct technical and operational analyses, and provide the necessary support.”
“Our team will depart for Baku this evening and, starting tomorrow, will work in coordination with Azerbaijani authorities, focusing on their respective areas of expertise to thoroughly investigate all aspects of the incident,” he wrote on Dec. 27.
Following the crash, Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights from Baku to several airports in Russia.
“This decision, made in accordance with the Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation Authority, is based on the preliminary results of the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft operating the Baku-Grozny flight J2-8243 of Azerbaijan Airlines due to physical and technical external interference and considers potential risks to flight safety. The suspension will remain in effect until the completion of the final investigation,” said the company in a statement.
