PM Shehbaz 'deeply saddened' by news of Azerbaijan plane crash

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday offered condolences as an Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan with 62 passengers and five crew on board. 

Kazakh authorities announced that 28 people had survived. 

Unverified video of the crash showed the plane, which was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, bursting into flames as it hit the ground and thick black smoke then rising. Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact. 

Sharif wrote on X, “Deeply saddened by the news of the tragic crash of an Azerbaijani airliner near Aktau, Kazakhstan.”

“My heartfelt condolences to my dear brother President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan over the loss of precious lives in this incident. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and we wish a swift recovery to the injured.” 

Kazakhstan’s emergencies ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that the survivors, including two children, were being treated at a nearby hospital. The bodies of the dead were being recovered.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 jet, with flight number J2-8243, was flying from Baku to Grozny, capital of Russia’s Chechnya region, but had been forced to make an emergency landing around 3 km (1.8 miles) from Aktau in Kazakhstan. The city is on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan and Russia.

Authorities in Kazakhstan said a government commission had been set up to investigate what had happened and its members ordered to fly to the site and ensure that the families of the dead and injured were getting the help they needed.