DOZENS of people have died after a passenger plane crashed with 67 people on board in Kazakhstan, local officials say.
Authorities in Azerbaijan, where the flight originated, say there were at least over 37 passengers dead and 30 survivors seriously injured.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it attempted to make an emergency landing near the Kazakh city of Aktau.
The plane was en route to Grozny in Russia but it was diverted due to fog, the airline told the BBC.
Video verified by Reuters news agency shows the plane heading towards the ground at high speed, with its landing gear down.
Seconds after it seems to attempt to land, a huge fireball erupts.
The airline said the plane “made an emergency landing” about 3km (1.9 miles) from Aktau.
It took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku at 03:55 GMT on Wednesday, and crashed around 06:28, data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.
There were 62 passengers and 5 crew members on board the Embraer 190 aircraft, the transport ministry said.
Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Out of the 25 known survivors, 22 were taken to hospital, the emergency ministry said.
Unverified video footage showed emergency services pulling people out of the wreckage and survivors crawling out.
Both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have launched investigations into the cause of the accident. Embraer told the BBC it was “ready to assist all relevant authorities”.
The BBC has contacted Azerbaijan Airlines for comment.
The aircraft involved was an Embraer E190, the Brazilian company is a smaller rival to Boeing and Airbus, it traditionally has a strong safety record.
