Search personnel have retrieved at least one flight recorder from the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 which crashed near Aktau airport on 25 December.
Kazakhstan’s emergency situations ministry confirms 38 fatalities from the accident, with a further 29 occupants transferred to hospitals in Aktau.
It states that recovery teams have “found the [flight recorder]” without clarifying whether this is the cockpit-voice or flight-data recorder, or both.
“Work is underway to dismantle aircraft structures at the scene,” it adds.
Sixty-seven occupants, including five crew members, were on board the jet, which came down about 3km west of Aktau airport, after diverting from its original destination of Grozny.
The ministry says the fuselage broke into two sections, coming to rest 300m apart, with a fire breaking out during the accident. Firefighters extinguished the blaze about 30min after arriving at the scene.
Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev – who was en route to a St Petersburg conference, but ordered the aircraft to turn back to Baku after being informed of the crash – says a “criminal case has been launched” into the accident by the prosecutor general’s office.
He says that, according to information given to him, the aircraft “changed its course due to worsening weather conditions [at Grozny] and began heading towards Aktau airport”.
“Reasons for the crash are not yet known to us,” he says. “There are various theories, but I believe it is premature to discuss them. The matter must be thoroughly investigated.”
Embraer says it is ”closely monitoring the situation” following the loss of the aircraft, adding that it is ”fully committed to supporting the relevant authorities”.
