A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia has crashed in Kazakhstan.
The aircraft had 62 passengers and five crew members on board.
Quoting authorities, Reuters reported that about four people were killed while some 32 survived the crash and were hospitalised.
Russian aviation watchdog said the incident happened after a collision with birds, due to an “emergency situation” on board.
Kazakhstan government officials said a commission had been set up to investigate the crash.
The government said it ordered officials to fly to the site and ensure that the families of the deceased and injured were getting relief.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cut short a visit to Russia – where he was due to attend a summit on Wednesday – upon learning about the incident.
“Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev was forced to leave St Petersburg (where he had a summit). Putin has already called him and expressed his condolences in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijani plane in Aktau,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and sympathised with the injured.
