A tragic aviation accident involving an Azerbaijan Airlines flight en route from Baku to Grozny has claimed 67 lives, leaving the international community in mourning. The incident occurred near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, where the aircraft made a crash landing approximately three kilometers from the city limits. Preliminary reports suggest a collision with a flock of birds caused the disaster.
The crash took the lives of 62 passengers and five crew members, with victims including 16 Russian, 37 Azerbaijani, six Kazakh, and three Kyrgyz citizens. Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) confirmed the flight was operated by its aircraft and expressed deep regret over the loss.
In a phone call following the incident, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin extended their condolences to the families of the victims and to the citizens of the affected nations. Aliyev informed Putin that due to the tragedy, he would be unable to attend the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg and was returning to Baku to address the situation.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also conveyed his condolences through a message on X, expressing his sympathy to the victims’ families and emphasizing the shared sorrow over the tragedy. “The loss of innocent lives in this catastrophe brings profound grief to us all,” Pashinyan stated.
The crash has cast a shadow over regional relations, prompting leaders to set aside political differences to address the shared grief. This tragedy underscores the universal need for robust safety measures in aviation and the resilience of communities in the face of devastating loss.
