Moscow — Azerbaijan was holding a national day of mourning on Thursday amid ongoing investigations into the reason why a passenger plane which took off from the capital Baku ended up crashing in Kazakhstan and killing 38 people on board.
Flags in Azerbaijan were flown at half-mast, Kazakh agency Tengrinews reported, citing local media, while cultural events scheduled for Thursday in theatres and concert halls have been postponed.
The cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines crash, which also left 29 survivors, some seriously injured, has not yet been confirmed, although several theories have been put forward.
The bodies of the deceased passengers and crew members are being repatriated to Azerbaijan, according to a joint statement issued by the airline and the Azerbaijani Ministry for Emergency Situations on X.
According to Tengrinews, the casualties included Russian, Azerbaijani and Kyrgyz citizens. Nine injured Russian passengers in serious condition, including a child, were picked up by a special aircraft to be treated in Moscow, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
The Embraer 190 aircraft took off from Baku on Wednesday morning with 67 people on board, including five crew members. It was scheduled to fly to Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
For reasons still unknown, the aircraft turned towards the Caspian Sea shortly before the landing approach. It later crashed near the coastal city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
©2024 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
