Plane carrying over 60 people crashes in Kazakhstan

An Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 62 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, with many feared dead.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 aircraft, with flight number J2-8243, had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya, but had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately three kilometres from the Kazakh city of Aktau.

Unverified video of the crash showed the plane, which was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, bursting into flames as it hit the ground and thick black smoke then rising.

The Central Asian country's emergencies ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital.

"Information about casualties is currently being clarified but, according to preliminary information, there are survivors," it said.

Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.

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 reported.

Russia's aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.

Following the crash, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, was returning home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.