Horror moment plane with 67 onboard crashes in fireball explosion in Kazakhstan with 35 feared dead in Xmas disaster

THIS is the terrifying moment a passenger plane plunged from the sky, erupting into a fireball in a devastating Christmas Day crash that has left dozens feared dead.

Heart-stopping footage shows the Embraer aircraft nosediving before smashing into the ground near Aktau in western Kazakhstan.

The plane, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, had 62 passengers and five crew members on board.

Among them were at least 60 Russian nationals, heading to Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya region—an area under the control of Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov.

Its fiery descent saw it breaking into several parts upon crash landing.

Emergency responders rushed to the scene, battling towering flames and thick plumes of black smoke rising ominously into the sky.

Authorities said that 28 people were miraculously pulled alive from the wreckage, but seven are reported to be in critical condition.

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

Two of the hospitalised survivors are children, believed to be girls aged 11 and 16.

“They are receiving all the necessary medical care in hospitals in the region,” said the Ministry of Health.

“23 ambulance teams were mobilised to the scene of the incident.”

On board the plane were two children aged 11, one aged 16, and one 17.

The Prosecutor General's Office in Azerbaijan later reported that at least 32 people survived the crash, adding that the number wasn't final.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that some of them were in critical condition.

The number of survivors could mean that over 30 people may be dead.

According to Kazakhstani officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani citizens.

Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact.

According to survivors, a bird got into the engine of the aircraft, “after which an oxygen tank exploded on board”.

“People on board began to lose consciousness,” said a report.

Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com revealed that the aircraft made what appeared to be a figure-eight maneuver as it approached Aktau airport.

Its altitude fluctuated significantly during the final moments of the flight before crashing.

In a separate online post, FlightRadar24 reported that the plane experienced severe GPS jamming, which caused it to transmit faulty ADS-B data — the information used by flight-tracking websites to monitor planes in real time.

Russia has previously been accused of jamming GPS signals in the region, raising questions about its potential involvement.

Officials revealed the flight, en route from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny in Russia, sent out a distress signal at just 2,125 feet over the Caspian Sea.

Earlier reports suggested the plane collided with a flock of birds, causing steering failure.

The cockpit’s final, desperate attempt to land in Aktau was captured in horrifying detail.

The aircraft is seen descending too steeply, its nose pointed sharply down, moments before the crash shattered the festive morning.

Witnesses described a deafening explosion as the plane broke apart and burst into flames upon impact.

Images of the flaming wreckage, with emergency services battling to control the inferno, capture the sheer scale of the disaster as charred fragments of the plane lie scattered across the crash site.

Kazaeronavigatsiya, Kazakhstan’s air navigation authority, confirmed the emergency declaration, stating: "The Embraer 190 AHY8243 aircraft travelling on the Baku-Grozny route declared an emergency situation due to a collision with a bird and violation of steering control."

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.

Aktau residents have been asked to donate blood for the survivors.

Kazakhstan has appointed a commission to investigate the plane crash.

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