Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Crash Claims 38 Lives

ASTANA, Dec 26 (Bernama- Azertac) --The plane crash near Aktau has claimed 38 confirmed fatalities, according to Marat Karabayev, Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan State News Agency (Azertac) reported.

“There were 67 people on board – 62 passengers and five crew members. Unfortunately, 38 people died, and 29 survived,” Karabayev stated during a briefing in Aktau.

Among the victims, 23 of the 37 Azerbaijani citizens on board died, and 14 survived. All 3 passengers from Kyrgyzstan survived. Of the 16 Russian citizens, 7 died, and 9 survived. All 6 Kazakh citizens on the plane died.

The aircraft crew consisted of five members: two died, and three survived.

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane was operating a flight en route from Baku to Grozny when it crashed on Wednesday morning near Aktau.

-- BERNAMA-AZERTAC