An Azerbaijan Airlines plane on Wednesday burst into flames after crashing near the Aktau city of Kazakhstan.
The Embraer 190 plane was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grzony in Russia’s Chechnya but was rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
It has been reported that 66 passengers were onboard the plane along with six crew members.
Reports suggest six people have survived the crash, and have been rushed to the hospital.
A video showed the aircraft rapidly losing altitude and started turning to its right. It crashed into an open field near the Aktau airport, and burst into flames.
Aktau is an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.
The plane reportedly took several circles, requesting an emergency landing.
Visuals showed ambulances at the crash site and some people were being rescued and deboarding from the emergency exit located at the rear end of the aircraft.
The aircraft registration number, 4K-AZ65, visible in the video matches the data available on FlightRadar24.
Data from the online flight tracking website, FlightRadar24, showed the aircraft flying over the Caspian Sea and heading towards its destination, in Chechnya.
The aircraft entered the territorial borders of Russia and started circling near the airport, requesting an emergency landing.
At around 11:58 am (Indian Standard Time), the flight crashed near the Caspian Sea shore, a few kilometres away from the airport.
