Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 38

An Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, after diverting from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks.

Twenty-nine survivors received hospital treatment.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Azerbaijan to Russia to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea, after what Russia's aviation watchdog said was an emergency that a bird strike may have caused. 

But an aviation expert suggested that cause seemed unlikely.

Officials did not immediately explain why it had crossed the sea, but the crash came after Ukrainian drone strikes this month hit the Chechnya region of southern Russia. 

The nearest Russian airport on the plane's flight path was closed Wednesday morning.

Kyiv has not acknowledged strikes this month on the Chechen city of Grozny, where the flight was headed.

According to information he had received, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said the plane changed course due to poor weather. Still, he added the cause of the crash was unknown and must be fully investigated.

Reuters