Azerbaijan Airlines canceled all flights from Baku to Grozny and Makhachkala

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) has decided to cancel all flights from Baku to Grozny and Makhachkala after the crash of a passenger plane in Kazakhstan. This was reported by the carrier's press service on December 25.

"The performance of flights of Azerbaijan Airlines on the routes Baku - Grozny - Baku and Baku - Makhachkala - Baku is suspended until the investigation is completed," the press service of AZAL said in its Telegram channel.

It added that AZAL airplanes continue to operate flights on all other routes according to the regular schedule.

Tragedy in Aktau: Baku-Grozny passenger plane crashed

A fire started at the scene and there are survivors

A passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines, heading on the route Baku - Grozny, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on December 25. After the crash the plane caught fire, the fire was extinguished. Preliminarily, the cause of the fall of the airplane could have been a collision with a flock of birds.

Azerbaijan Airlines published a list of passengers of the crashed airplane near Aktau, it includes 62 people, 32 survivors in total, the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan said. The Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan reported that 16 Russians were flying in the plane. According to the Russian Embassy in the republic, 10 of them survived and were hospitalized.

A criminal case was initiated under the article "Violation of safety rules in the operation of vehicles, causing the death of two or more persons by negligence". Search and rescue operations continue at the site of the tragedy. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared December 26 a day of mourning in the country for the victims of the plane crash.