Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has informed Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is canceling his visit to Russia due to the tragic crash of a passenger plane in Kazakhstan, Kazinform reports, quoted by Focus.
During the telephone conversation, Aliyev explained that he would not be able to participate in the informal summit of the CIS member states in St. Petersburg. The reason for his decision was the crash of an Embraer 190 aircraft, operating a Baku-Grozny flight with the number J2-8243, which crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan.
Crash details
There were 67 people on board the aircraft, including 5 crew members. According to preliminary data from the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan, the passengers were from different countries:
- 37 citizens of Azerbaijan
- 6 citizens of Kazakhstan
- 3 citizens of Kyrgyzstan
- 16 citizens of Russia
It should be noted that the incident caused serious concern among the Azerbaijani authorities, and Aliyev decided to interrupt his official visit to Russia.