Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, many feared dead

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00:00An eyewitness video shows the moment a passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan on Wednesday,

00:08with many feared dead.

00:12Kazakh authorities said 62 passengers and five crew were on board the plane, which was

00:16operated by Azerbaijan Airlines.

00:20At least 32 people were rescued, they said, and survivors, including two children, were

00:25being treated at a nearby hospital.

00:27The plane had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route to crash on the opposite

00:31shore of the Caspian Sea, close to the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan.

00:38Russia's aviation watchdog said a bird strike may have forced the pilot to land.

00:43Officials did not immediately explain why it had crossed the sea, but the crash came

00:47shortly after drone strikes hit southern Russia.

00:50Drone activity has shut airports in the area in the past, and at least one airport there

00:55was closed on Wednesday morning.

00:57Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 jet was flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital

01:02of the Chechnya region in southern Russia.

01:05Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, said in a statement some of those

01:09being treated in hospital were in a serious condition.

01:13Authorities in Kazakhstan said a government commission had been set up to investigate

01:17the cause of the crash.