ASTANA: Azerbaijan began a national day of mourning Thursday after a passenger jet from the flag carrier crashed in western Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 of the 67 people onboard.
The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course across the Caspian Sea. It crashed Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijan Airlines reported that 67 people were on board the jet — 62 passengers and five crew members.
Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev told Russia’s Interfax news agency that 38 people had been killed, while the Kazakh emergency situations ministry reported “29 survivors, including three children, have been hospitalized.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of mourning and canceled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations.
Aliyev’s office said the president “ordered the prompt initiation of urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster.”
“I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash... and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Aliyev said in a social media post.
The Flight Radar website showed the plane deviating from its normal route, crossing the Caspian Sea and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the sea.
Azerbaijan state news agency AZERTAC reported the aircraft’s black box, which records the flight data, has been recovered.
The Kazakh transport ministry said the plane was carrying 37 nationals from Azerbaijan, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia.
Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the plane “made an emergency landing” around three kilometers (1.9 miles) from Aktau.
The Kazakh emergency situations ministry said its staff put out a fire which broke out when the plane crashed.
It said 150 emergency workers were at the scene.
Kazakhstan said it had opened an investigation into the cause of the crash, which was not immediately clear.
Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds before withdrawing the statement.
“We cannot disclose any investigation results at this time,” the office of Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general said in a statement.
“All possible scenarios are being examined, and the necessary expert analyzes are underway,” it added.
It said an investigative team led by the deputy prosecutor general of Azerbaijan has been dispatched to Kazakhstan and is working at the crash site.
A Kazakh woman told the local branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that she was near where the plane crashed and rushed to the site to help survivors.
“They were covered in blood. They were crying. They were calling for help,” said the woman, who gave her name as Elmira.
She said they saved some teenagers.
“I’ll never forget their look, full of pain and despair,” said Elmira. “A girl pleaded: ‘Save my mother, my mother is back there’.”
The health ministry said a special flight was being sent from the Kazakh capital Astana with specialist doctors to treat the injured.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Aliyev and “expressed his condolences in connection with the crash,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.
A Russian emergency situations ministry had been sent to Aktau with medical personnel and other equipment, Putin said later as he opened the CIS leaders’ meeting in Saint Petersburg.
Azerbaijan’s first lady Mehriban Aliyeva, who is also the country’s first vice president, said she was “deeply saddened by the news of the tragic loss of lives in the plane crash near Aktau.”
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. Wishing them strength and patience! I also wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” she said on Instagram.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Telegram: “I express my condolences to the relatives of the passengers of the Azerbaijan Airlines jet who died.”

NEWCASTLE, Australia: Communities and firefighters across Australia’s second-most populous state were preparing Thursday for potentially devastating wildfires as a heat wave fanned by erratic winds presented the worst fire conditions in several years.
With temperatures in Victoria state reaching 37 degrees Celsius and with wind changes expected throughout the day, fire chiefs have issued stark warnings to rural communities to delay travel or leave their homes and seek safety at shelters.
Several fires are currently burning out of control across the state and Victoria deputy premier Ben Carroll said the possibility for further fires in the coming days was likely.
“Dangerous fire conditions are forming today and will go right through to Saturday,” he said at a press conference in Melbourne. “New fires can start anywhere and become dangerous very quickly.
The largest uncontained fire is located in the Grampians National Park and has burnt through 55,000 hectares so far, but no homes have reported to have been lost.
However, Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent said there were many residential properties on the fringes of the fire that could come under threat.
“I wouldn’t be surprised at some point if we do have residential losses,” Nugent said. “Firefighters, I can say, are doing everything possible to protect life and protect property.”
An emergency warning was issued by fire authorities for the small town of Mafeking, 260 kilometers (160 miles) west of Melbourne, on Thursday.
Residents there were told “you are in danger and need to act immediately to survive. The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately, as it is too late to leave.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported around 100 personnel from other Australian states are now in Victoria to assist local firefighters battling the blazes. Firefighters are being assisted by scores of water-bombing aircraft.
Parts of neighboring South Australia and New South Wales states are also on high alert due to the heat wave and elevated fire risks.
The hot, dry conditions are being compared to the Black Summer fires that gripped Australia’s two most populous states for months in 2019-20 and burned through 104 thousand square kilometers, an area roughly the size of Ohio, and destroyed thousands of homes and killed 33 people.