An early morning Christmas Day flight turned into a nightmare as an Azerbaijan Airlines plane carrying 67 passengers crashed in Kazakhstan with dozens feared dead.
The flight, with 62 passengers and five crew members, took off from Baku, Azerbaijan, for Grozny, Russia. While in flight, the plane was diverted to Aktau, Kazakhstan. Just 1.3 miles from the airport, the flight lost altitude and ultimately crashed.
According to a statement from Azerbaijan Airlines, there were some survivors.
“There were 67 people on board, including 62 passengers and five crew members. There were no children among the passengers, and information about the injured will be provided shortly. According to available information, survivors are receiving initial medical assistance. Contacts are being established with the Kazakh authorities, and necessary operational support is being provided by Kazakhstan’s emergency rescue agencies at the scene.” – Azerbaijan Airlines
The latest updates show that 32 people survived the impact. As emergency crews scour the area, the hope is alive that more survivors will be found.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2 8243 took off from Baku at 03:55 UTC. The flight was tracked from takeoff until 04:40 UTC when flight information was lost due to GPS jamming. It was not until 06:07 UTC that the information again appeared on radar to track the flight until the time of the crash at 06:28 UTC.
Updates at this time are ongoing.
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Conflicting Reports On The Cause Of The Azerbaijan Airlines Flight Crash
The Azerbaijan Airlines flight was originally set to land in Grozny, Russia. But, the flight was diverted.
The flight crew and passengers were diverted to Aktau, Kazakhstan, approximately 500 miles away from Grozny, located on the Caspian Sea. According to Russian state-owned news agency Tass, per Newsweek, the diversion was due to heavy fog. It was not disclosed when the flight was informed that landing in Grozny would not be possible.
Other sources state it was the pilot who chose to divert the aircraft.
According to Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, per Penn Live, the plane encountered a “bird strike” which led to “an emergency situation onboard.” There was no mention of heavy fog being the reason for the flight diversion.
Investigations on the ground are still ongoing. Once located, the black box will reveal more information regarding the cause of the crash.
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Plane Also Dealt With “Strong GPS Jamming”
In addition to dealing with the reported troubling bird strike or heavy fog, the Azerbaijan Airlines flight also had to battle “strong GPS jamming”, according to FlightRadar24, a real-time flight tracking organization. This made it hard, according to FlightRadar24, to track the aircraft as the jamming “made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data.” Consequently, before the plane went down, the data received was inconsistent.
“The aircraft was exposed to GPS jamming and spoofing near Grozny. The altitude was oscillating for 74 minutes before the crash near Aktau Airport, 433 km from the original destination. The aircraft was airborne for 2h 33 min.” – FlightRadar24
While there are no confirmed sources of jamming, several news outlets, Russia has been previously blamed for jamming aircraft in the region.
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As the hours pass, emergency crews continue to look for more survivors, hoping for a real Christmas miracle amid a horrific tragedy.