Kazakhstan plane crash survivors: People started fainting after cylinder explosion

There were 67 people on board the crashed Embraer 190 airplane, 28 of them survived. The aircraft crashed due to a bird strike, Azerbaijan Airlines said. 

Photo: t.me/mchs_official by EMERCOM of Russia

Firefighter

The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crashed near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on December 25, 2024.

A cylinder exploded on board the Embraer 190 plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, the health department of the Mangistau region said, Orda.kz reports.

"A cylinder exploded on board the plane, injuring 14 people, including two children," they said. The health department did not say which cylinder it was exactly, although it is believed that it goes about an oxygen cylinder. 

Eyewitnesses also said that an oxygen cylinder exploded after the plane collided with birds. People on board started losing consciousness afterwards.

According to Russian Aviation Agency (Rosaviatsia) and Azerbaijan Airline, the accident occurred due to the collision with birds. As the Russian agency specified, after the plane hit the birds, an “abnormal situation” occurred on board, and pilots decided to land the plane on an alternate airfield of the airport of Aktau.

According to the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan, there were 62 passengers and five crew members on board. Among them: 37 citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 of Russia, six of Kazakhstan and three citizens of Kyrgyzstan.

Kazakhstan's fourth air crash in 15 years

The December 25 plane crash near Aktau is the fourth air crash that has taken place in the last 15 years in Kazakhstan. All of them occurred in December and January. One of the them took place the same day in 2012.

• On December 25, 2012, an An-72 of the Border Service of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan crashed near Shymkent, killing all 27 people on board.
• A month later, on January 29, 2013, a SCAT airline plane flying from Kokshetau crashed near the Almaty airport. Twenty-one people were then killed in the crash. 
• On December 27, 2019, a Fokker 100 of Bek Air airline crashed in Almaty, killing 13 people.