INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
the crash of the Embraer 190 near the city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea
The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the city of Grozny in Russia's republic of Chechnya.Russia's civil aviation
International Airport claimed that thick fog was to blame for the airplane's rerouting.A video of the crash shared on social media showed
Aliyev cut short a visit to Russia where he had been due to attend an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States,
a grouping of former Soviet nations, his office said in a statement.Azerbaijan Airlines, the country's flag carrier, said the plane had 62
It added that the plane "made an emergency landing" around three kilometers (1.9 miles) from Aktau.Transportation officials in Kazakhstan
said that of the plane's passengers, 37 were from Azerbaijan, six were from Kazakhstan, three were from Kyrgyzstan and 16 were from
Russia.Kazakhstan's Emergency Situations Ministry said its personnel put out a fire that broke out when the plane crashed
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 extend my heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims
Wishing them strength and patience! I also wish a speedy recovery to the injured," she said on Instagram.Tracking of Azerbaijan Airlines
Flight 4K-AZ65Flight Radar 24The plane's course on Flight Radar 24 showed it flying over the republic of Dagestan along the Caspian Sea
coast, after which it disappeared from tracking only to show up around an hour later off course and flying low above the water near western
Kazakhstan before crashing.According to the flight tracking service, "strong GPS jamming" caused the aircraft to temporarily disappear from
radar, possibly suggesting it was exposed to air defense systems in Russia."At 04:40 UTC we lost the ADS-B signal
video of the passenger jet's tailfin showed it riddled with holes, sparking further speculation that it may have been targeted by air
defense systems as it approached Grozny.Chechnya, along with nearby regions, was targeted by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday.The
Kremlin-funded RT news network cited a surviving passenger as claiming that the pilot tried landing the plane in Grozny three times before
"something exploded."AFP contributed reporting.
