The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet that crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, was earlier diverting from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks. Authorities in two Russian regions ...

Flight was operating in an area where Moscow’s air defenses have battled Ukrainian drones in recent weeks.

Tengrinews.kz - The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan has published the names of Kazakhstani citizens who died in the plane crash near Aktau.

Tengrinews.kz - Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev provided details about the Kazakhstanis who died in the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crash near Aktau on5.

Speculations with unconfirmed reports said that Russian air defense system probably mistook the plane for an Ukrainian drone.

The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet was en route from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in Russia. The plane went down near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after being diverted due to fog. There were 62 passengers and five crew members on board the plane, Kazakhstan's transport ministry said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at a news conference that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, pointing to bad weather as the reason the plane diverted from its original course. "This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people," he said.

During an informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested observing a moment of silence to honor the memory of those who lost their lives in the crash. On behalf of all CIS leaders in attendance, Putin expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wished a swift recovery to the injured.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Azerbaijan to Russia to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. A Kazakh official said 38 people had been killed,

Tengrinews.kz - The bodies of those died in the Aktau plane crash will be delivered to Azerbaijan. This was stated in a joint statement by the Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic and Azerbaijan Airlines.

The plane, which had 62 passengers and five crew members on board, crashed after being forced to make an emergency landing