Azerbaijan observes moment of silence for Aktau crash victims

Today, Azerbaijan observed a nationwide moment of silence to honor the victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane crash near Aktau, which killed 38 people.

At 12:00 local time (11:00 MSK), traffic across the country came to a halt, and signals were sounded from ships and trains to mark the tribute.

December 26 has been declared a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.

The tragedy occurred on December 25, when AZAL's Embraer 190 plane en route from Baku to Grozny crashed just 3 km from Aktau Airport.

The plane was carrying 67 people, including 62 passengers and 5 crew members. In the aftermath of the crash, 27 people were hospitalized. Among them, 15 are citizens of Azerbaijan, 8 are from Russia, and 3 are from Kyrgyzstan. Of the 16 Russian citizens, 7 died. All 6 Kazakh citizens on the plane died. All 3 passengers from Kyrgyzstan survived.