Dozens killed in Kazakhstan passenger plane crash

Local officials report that a passenger plane carrying around 70 individuals has crashed in Kazakhstan, resulting in multiple fatalities.

Officials in Azerbaijan, the country where the flight began, report that there were at least 30 people who survived.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 experienced a fire while trying to perform an emergency landing close to the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

The aircraft was headed for Grozny in Russia, but it was redirected because of fog, the airline informed the BBC.

The video captures the airplane descending swiftly towards the ground with its landing gear extended, and then igniting into flames upon touchdown.

The airline reported that the aircraft "executed an emergency landing" roughly 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) away from Aktau.

It departed from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, at 03:55 GMT on Wednesday and went down at approximately 06:28, according to information from the flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

Russian media reports suggest that the plane may have hit a group of birds before going down, although this information has not been officially verified.

Representatives from the countries involved have provided varying figures regarding the total number of people on board and those who managed to survive.

The airline stated that there were 62 passengers along with 5 crew members on the Embraer 190, although some other sources claim that the total number reached 72. The number of reported survivors varies between 28 and 32.

The majority of the people on the flight were from Azerbaijan, but there were also a few passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Azerbaijan Airlines announced that it would suspend flights between Baku and the Russian cities of Grozny and Makhachkala until the investigation into the incident is finished.

Unconfirmed video clips depicted survivors emerging from the debris, with some of them visibly injured.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have both started inquiries into the event. Embraer informed the BBC that it is "prepared to help all involved authorities."

The BBC reached out to Azerbaijan Airlines for a response.

Embraer, a Brazilian company, is a smaller competitor to Boeing and Airbus, known for its impressive safety performance.