BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 27. Information regarding the explosion of an oxygen tank aboard an "Azerbaijan Airlines" (AZAL) aircraft was received from Russia, the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan said, TurkicWorld reports.
"The information about the oxygen tank explosion on the AZAL aircraft was received from the flight supervisor in Rostov at 10:53.
The Rostov flight director subsequently informed the Aktau tower flight director that an oxygen cylinder had exploded in the passenger cabin, causing passengers to lose consciousness. A request for resuscitation upon arrival was made. Based on this critical information, all rescue services were immediately alerted.
During the briefing, a detailed chronology of the events was presented, based on the reports from the Rostov flight director," the ministry said.
To note, AZAL's Embraer 190 passenger plane on the Baku-Grozny route crashed 3 km away from Aktau airport on December 25.
A total of 67 people (62 passengers and 5 crew members) were on board the Embraer 190 airplane, flying Baku-Grozny, which crashed in Aktau.
Following the crash of the passenger airplane near Aktau, 27 people were hospitalized. Of them, 15 people are citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 8 of the Russian Federation, and 3 of the Kyrgyz Republic. The identity of one person has not been established yet.
Of the victims hospitalized, 11 are being treated in the intensive care unit, 13 in the traumatology department, 2 in the neurosurgery department, and 1 in the surgical department. These persons are under the control of professional doctors from Kazakhstan and those expelled from Azerbaijan and Russia. They were provided with prompt and specialized medical and psychological treatment.
Both crew pilots as well as the flight stewardess were lost, but two crew members survived.
December 26 has been declared a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
