Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashes in Kazakhstan leaving 32 survivors
Moscow, Dec 25: An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday in the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, leaving at least 32 survivors, according to officials. More than 30 people are likely dead.
Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry said in a Telegram statement that those on board included five crew. At least 29 have been hospitalized, the ministry told Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti.
Russian news agency Interfax quoted medical workers as saying that four bodies have been recovered and emergency workers at the scene as saying that both pilots, according to a preliminary assessment, died in the crash.
The Embraer 190 aircraft made an emergency landing 3 km from the city, Azerbaijan Airlines said earlier.
Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry initially said 25 people survived the crash, later revising that number to 27, 28, and then 29 as the search and rescue operation continued at the site of the crash, bringing the supposed death toll down.
Prosecutor General's Office in Azerbaijan later reported that at least 32 people survived the crash, adding that the number wasn't final.
The number of survivors could mean that over 30 people may be dead.
The plane was originally scheduled to travel from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus. According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 37 passengers were Azerbaijani citizens. There were also 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani citizens, it said.
RIA Novosti quoted Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, as saying that preliminary information showed that the pilot had chosen to divert to Aktau after a bird strike on the aircraft led to “an emergency situation on board”.
Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft, lying upside in the grass. The footage corresponded to the plane's colors and its registration number.
Some of the videos posted on social media showed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage of the plane.
Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed the aircraft making what appeared to be a figure-right once nearing the airport in Aktau, its altitude moving up and down substantially over the last minutes of the flight before impacting the ground.
FlightRadar24 separately said in an online post that the aircraft had faced “strong GPS jamming” which “made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data”, referring to the information that allows flight-tracking websites to follow planes in flight. Russia has been blamed in the past for jamming GPS transmissions in the wider region.
Embraer did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday morning. In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public updated and changed its social media banners to solid black.
Azerbaijan's state news agency, Azertac, said that an official delegation consisting of Azerbaijan's emergency situations minister, the country's deputy general prosecutor, and the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines had been dispatched to Aktau to conduct an “on-site investigation”.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who had been traveling to St Petersburg, returned to Azerbaijan on hearing news of the crash, the president's press service said. Aliyev was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of Commonwealth of Independent States, a bloc of former Soviet countries founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media. “It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured,” he wrote.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the phone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Both Kazakhstani and Azerbaijani authorities were investigating the crash. Embraer told The Associated Press in a statement that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”
Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane flying from Baku to Grozny crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan. pic.twitter.com/EnicqHcTGM
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 25, 2024
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
GBA chief commissioner orders removal of dilapidated structures at risk of collapse
Bengaluru (PTI): The GBA on Saturday said Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao has instructed officials to immediately identify and remove compound walls and buildings in a dilapidated condition that pose a risk of collapse within its jurisdiction.
The instructions were issued following directions from Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru City Development Minister D K Shivakumar, in the wake of destruction caused by heavy rains, strong winds, and a hailstorm that lashed the city on Wednesday evening.
The thunderous downpour and stormy winds brought down temperatures in the city but also left a trail of destruction.
A compound wall collapsed at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, killing seven people, including a child.
“The collapse of the wall at Bowring Hospital due to the intensity of the rains, which tragically claimed seven lives, is an extremely unfortunate incident. The rains have caused damage to both public and private property and have disrupted public movement,” the Greater Bengaluru Authority said in a release.
In addition, there remains a continued risk of trees and branches falling in several areas, it added.
Therefore, the deputy CM has directed authorities to immediately identify hazardous trees, weak branches, dangerous walls, and unsafe buildings, and to take preventive measures to avoid any untoward incidents and inconvenience to the public, it said.
Accordingly, commissioners and additional commissioners of all five city corporations have been instructed to personally monitor the situation and form special teams comprising Fire and Emergency Services personnel, police staff, and city corporation officials and employees.
These teams have been directed to implement all necessary precautionary measures in view of the likelihood of further heavy rains, ensuring that the public faces no inconvenience.
Regarding the action being taken to remove unsafe walls, the GBA said that on Binnymill Road under the central city corporation, an old wall was found to be in a severely weakened condition and at imminent risk of collapse.
Following the recent rains, around 60 meters of the 10-foot-high wall had already collapsed.
Consequently, a 25-foot-high, 300-meter-long section of the wall has now been demolished, while the removal of an additional 100-meter stretch of the 10-foot-high wall is currently underway.
In the West City Corporation limits, at 8th Main Road, Mysore Lamps premises in Malleswaram, a 240-meter-long compound wall was identified as structurally unsafe. With appropriate safety measures, manpower, and machinery, the demolition of the wall has been completed.
