Azerbaijan mourns plane crash victims

Azerbaijan began a national day of mourning Thursday after a passenger jet from the flag carrier crashed in Kazakhstan.

The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya, but crashed around 3km from Aktau in Kazakhstan.

Azerbaijan Airlines reported that 67 people were on board the jet - 62 passengers and five crew members. The Kazakh emergency situations ministry reported 29 survivors have been hospitalised.

The Kazakh transport ministry said the plane was carrying 37 nationals from Azerbaijan, 23 of whom died and 14 survived, 16 from Russia, 6 from Kazakhstan and 3 from Kyrgyzstan. Of the 16 Russian citizens, 7 died. All 6 Kazakh citizens on the plane died. All 3 passengers from Kyrgyzstan survived.

Kazakhstan said it had opened an investigation into the cause of the crash, which was not immediately clear.

An investigative team led by the deputy prosecutor general of Azerbaijan has been dispatched to Kazakhstan and is working at the crash site.

The operation of Azerbaijan Airlines flights on the Baku-Grozny-Baku and Baku-Makhachkala-Baku routes has been suspended until the investigation is completed.