The crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan has killed 38 of 67 people on board. Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijani capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons that aren’t fully clear yet.

The Embraer 190 was traveling to Grozny, Russia, but crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people onboard. Investigators are focusing on Russian air defense as the likely cause.

The Russian authorities have sent guidelines to the media, advising journalists to ignore any mention of the downing of an AZAL aircraft in Aktau. The case should be referred to as a tragic incident,

Flight records for the plane made by Brazil's Embraer that crashed last week in Kazakhstan are headed to the South American country so the data can be extracted, the Brazilian Air Force said in a statement on Monday.

According to Euronews sources, the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny on 25 December was caused by a Russian surface-to-air missile that exploded nearby. Source: Euronews Quote: "Sources in the Azerbaijani government confirmed in an exclusive statement to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile was the cause of the crash of an Azerbaijani Airlines plane in Aktau on Wednesday.

On Christmas Day, a plane traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, crashed in Kazakhstan, killing over half of its passengers. Theories abound regarding why the plane made an emergency landing near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it tried to make an emergency landing in Aktau, southwestern Kazakhstan, on Wednesday. It was traveling from the Azeri capital Baku to Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.

The probe into the Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan is examining the conduct of air traffic controllers after the aircraft encountered difficulty, a source said.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of accidentally shooting down an airliner on Christmas Day in a disaster that killed 38 people, and covering up the cause.