THIS is the terrifying moment a passenger plane plunged from the sky, erupting into a fireball in a devastating Christmas Day crash that has left dozens dead.
The death toll currently stands at 38 people with both pilots thought to have been killed.
Heart-stopping footage shows the Embraer aircraft nosediving before smashing into the ground near Aktau in western Kazakhstan after it is said to have collided with a flock of birds.
Flight J2-8243, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, had 62 passengers and five crew members on board.
Among them were at least 60 Russian nationals, heading to Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya region—an area under the control of Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov.
Its fiery descent saw it breaking into several parts upon crash landing hundreds of miles from its planned route on the shore of the Caspian Sea.
Around 150 Emergency responders rushed to the scene, battling towering flames and thick plumes of black smoke rising ominously into the sky.
Officials revealed the flight, en route from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny in Russia, sent out a distress signal at just 2,125 feet over the Caspian Sea.
Authorities said that 29 people were miraculously pulled alive from the wreckage, but seven are reported to be in critical condition.
The Central Asian country's emergency ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that the survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital.
Two of the hospitalised survivors are children, believed to be girls aged 11 and 16.
“They are receiving all the necessary medical care in hospitals in the region,” said the Ministry of Health.
“23 ambulance teams were mobilised to the scene of the incident.”
On board the plane were three children aged 11, one aged 16, and one 17.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that some of them were in critical condition.
According to Kazakhstani officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani citizens.
None of the survivors are Kazakh nationals, Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said.
All but one of them have been identified with the final survivor being an unknown woman who is unconscious at the hospital and has no documents.
The deputy prime minister added that the bodies of those who died in the crash are "in poor condition, mostly burnt, all collected.
"Now they will be in the morgue, and identification will take place."
Footage from the scene showed bloodied and bruised passengers stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact.
According to survivors, a bird got into the engine of the aircraft, “after which an oxygen tank exploded on board”.
“People on board began to lose consciousness,” said a report.
A video was taken inside the plane by survivor Subkhon Rakhimov who realised there was an issue and sent the clip to his wife.
The passenger who now has a heavily bruised face said: "The flight attendant did her job perfectly, I don't know if she survived or not, but she did her job perfectly.
"Where there was an oxygen tank explosion, experts will say, only they can say - it happened. But, there was an explosion."
Flight-tracking data from revealed that the aircraft made what appeared to be a figure-eight manoeuvre as it approached Aktau airport.
Its altitude fluctuated significantly during the final moments of the flight before crashing.
The cockpit’s final, desperate attempt to land in Aktau was captured in horrifying detail.
The aircraft is seen descending too steeply, its nose pointed sharply down, moments before the crash shattered the festive morning.
Witnesses described a deafening explosion as the plane broke apart and burst into flames upon impact.
Images of the flaming wreckage, with emergency services battling to control the inferno, capture the sheer scale of the disaster as charred fragments of the plane lie scattered across the crash site.
Kazaeronavigatsiya, Kazakhstan’s air navigation authority, confirmed the emergency declaration, stating: "The Embraer 190 AHY8243 aircraft travelling on the Baku-Grozny route declared an emergency situation due to a collision with a bird and violation of steering control."
Russia's aviation watchdog said on Telegram: "Preliminary: after a collision with birds, due to an emergency situation on board, its commander decided to 'go' to an alternate airfield - Aktau was chosen."
But President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has said that it is too soon to determine the cause of the crash.
"The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing," he said.
An aviation expert has claimed that it is unlikely the crash was caused by a bird strike.
Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory told Reuters that in a bird strike, planes usually land in the nearest available field and do not go hundreds of miles off course.
"You can lose control of the plane, but you don't fly wildly off course as a consequence," the aviator said.
Meanwhile, FlightRadar24 reported that the plane experienced severe GPS jamming, which caused it to transmit faulty ADS-B data — the information used by flight-tracking websites to monitor planes in real time.
Russia has previously been accused of jamming GPS signals in the region, raising questions about its potential involvement.
The aircraft had already been forced to divert from part of Russia that Moscow has been defending against Ukrainian drone attacks.
Wall Street Journal reporter Yaroslav Trofimov said speculation by Russian media included that Russian air defences mistook the passenger jet for a Ukrainian drone.
But Russian news agencies have said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
However, numerous holes found in the fuselage suggest that Russia shot down the aircraft, experts have claimed.
Images from the wreckage show what appear to be bullet holes or damage caused by shrapnel which has raised further questions about the true cause of the crash.
Pro-Kremlin media and independent sources have claimed that Russian defences may have targeted the aircraft, according to
Russian military analysts from the Conflict Intelligence Team stated on Wednesday that the holes could have been caused by a Pantsir-S1 air defence missile.
It comes after 50 Ukrainian drones were targeting areas of Russia shortly before the incident which may have triggered defences.
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Rybar said: "Several drones were shot down over North Ossetia and neighbouring Ingushetia."
A Kremlin-supporting blogger Yuriy Podolyaka wrote that the aircraft "shows damage consistent with an air defence missile, detonating from the side and above.
"Survivors recall a 'bang' during its third foggy landing attempt in Grozny before redirection to Makhachkala.
"It may have been caught in a defence response to an attack on Grozny."
Aboulafia, the analyst at AeroDynamic Advisory told Reuters: "This does not look like crash damage. This indeed looks like influence from outside."
Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into different possible versions of what had happened, including a technical problem, Russia's Interfax news agency previously reported.
Kazakhstan has appointed a commission to investigate the plane crash.
"The Commission was instructed to immediately fly to the scene of the accident, ensure a comprehensive investigation into the causes of the crash, and take measures to provide priority assistance to the families of the dead and injured," the Kazakhstan government said.
Kazakhstan has confirmed that the plane's black box has been found, per Interfax.
Flights from Baku to Russia's Chechnya region have been suspended until it is complete, according to Russia's state TASS news agency.
After the crash, the president of Azerbaijan returnd home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
"This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people," the president said.
Azerbaijan Airlines posted on X: "Today is a tragic day for AZAL.
"We extend our deepest condolences with profound sorrow to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew members who lost their lives in the crash of the Embraer-190 aircraft near the city of Aktau.
"We pray for God's mercy upon them. Their pain is our pain. We wish a speedy recovery to the injured."
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said those being treated in the hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.
Aktau residents have been asked to donate blood for the survivors.
A woman named Elmira who took part in the rescue effort detailed the horrifying scenes she faced on Radio Free Europe's Kazakh Service.
"The front (part of the plan) was on fire. We rescued the survivors. Their bodies were covered in blood.
"They were crying. Everyone was asking for help."
"A little girl came out. She looked at me and said, 'Save my mom, my mom is still there," Elmira continued.
"She was crying and begging, 'Please save her, save her.'"
Elmira and fellow rescuers worked quickly to help the survivors over to a nearby bus to "prevent people from freezing" while waiting for an ambulance.
December 26 will be a day of mourning in Azerbaijan, the country's president declared.
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