Category: English

An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, leaving at least 32 survivors, according to officials. More than 30 people may be dead.

The plane was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus.

Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry said in a Telegram statement that those on board included five crew. A total of 29 survivors, including two children, have been hospitalized, the ministry told Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

Another Russian news agency, Interfax quoted medical workers as saying that four bodies have been recovered and emergency workers at the scene as saying that both pilots, according to a preliminary assessment, died in the crash.

The Embraer 190 aircraft made an emergency landing 3 km from the city, Azerbaijan Airlines said earlier.

Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry initially said 25 people survived the crash, later revising that number to 27, 28, and then 29 as the search and rescue operation continued at the site of the crash, bringing the supposed death toll down.

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, it said.

RIA Novosti quoted Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, as saying that preliminary information showed that the pilot had chosen to divert to Kazakhstan’s Aktau after a bird strike on the aircraft led to “an emergency situation on board”.

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft, lying upside in the grass. The footage corresponded to the plane’s colors and its registration number.

Some of the videos posted on social media showed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage of the plane.

Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed the aircraft making what appeared to be a figure-right once nearing the airport in Aktau, its altitude moving up and down substantially over the last minutes of the flight before impacting the ground.

FlightRadar24 separately said in an online post that the aircraft had faced “strong GPS jamming” which “ made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data”, referring to the information that allows flight-tracking websites to follow planes in flight. Russia has been blamed in the past for jamming GPS transmissions in the wider region.

In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public updated and changed its social media banners to solid black.

Azerbaijan’s state news agency, Azertac, said that an official delegation consisting of Azerbaijan’s emergency situations minister, the country’s deputy general prosecutor, and the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines had been dispatched to Aktau to conduct an “on-site investigation”.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who had been traveling to Russia, returned to Azerbaijan on hearing news of the crash, the president’s press service said. Aliyev was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a bloc of former Soviet countries founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St. Petersburg.

Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media. “It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured,” he wrote.

He also signed a decree declaring Dec. 26 a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the phone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Speaking at the CIS meeting in St. Petersburg, Putin also said that Russia’s Emergency Ministry sent a plane with equipment and medical workers to Kazakhstan to assist with the aftermath of the crash.

Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities said they were investigating the crash. Embraer told The Associated Press in a statement that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.”

AP

ISTANBUL —The death toll from the munitions factory explosion in Balikesir province, northwestern Türkiye, has been revised to 11, with seven others injured, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday.

“The work (at the production facility) began at 8:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) in an area of 700 square meters, and the explosion occurred at 8:27 a.m.. The cause is still unknown,” Yerlikaya told reporters.

According to the minister, there is no evidence of sabotage at the explosion.

“An expert team will submit their preliminary report to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will then disclose the cause of the explosion to the public,” he added.

The factory, located in the Karesi district of Balikesir province, began operations in 2014.

XINHUA

ISTANBUL — A powerful blast on Tuesday ripped through an explosives plant in northwest Turkiye killing 13 people and injuring four others, officials said.

Footage showed shards of glass and metal scattered outside the plant, where ambulances stood by.

“According to initial reports, 12 employees died and four were taken to hospital with injuries as a result of the explosion,” local governor Ismail Ustaoglu said.

“I wish God’s mercy upon our deceased citizens and a speedy recovery to our wounded,” he added.

Officials said the wounded were not in a serious condition.

The blast took place at 8:25 am (0525 GMT) at a section of the plant which local officials said collapsed by the force of the explosion.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the cause was not immediately known and authorities ruled out sabotage.

“We are trying to find out what caused it,” he said.

Prosecutors have launched a thorough investigation.

The plant, located in the north of Balikesir, makes munitions and explosives and flares for the domestic and international markets.

Turkiye has become a major defense exporter, particularly for drones, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a major supporter of the industry.

AN-AFP

JOHANNESBURG — At least seven people died and five others were injured on Monday morning after their minibus overturned on the N3 road in South Africa’s northeastern province of Mpumalanga, local authorities confirmed.

According to the Mpumalanga Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, the accident happened in the early hours of Monday when the vehicle was traveling from Gauteng Province to KwaZulu-Natal Province.

“Two people sustained serious injuries while three more occupants were slightly injured. The injured were rushed to the nearby Frankfort Hospital in Free State (Province),” the Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison said in a statement. “The deceased were all passengers.”

XINHUA

BEIJING — China’s national observatory issued a blue alert on Monday evening for Typhoon Pabuk, which is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to the country’s southern regions.

Typhoon Pabuk, the 26th typhoon of this year, was located 190 km north of Yongshu Reef, part of the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea, at 5 p.m. on Monday.

It is forecast to travel westward and then move southwestward at 5-10 km per hour.

Affected by the typhoon, gales are forecast to sweep parts of the East China Sea, waters east of Taiwan Island, the Taiwan Strait, the Bashi Channel, the Beibu Gulf, the South China Sea, as well as the coastal areas of Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong and Hainan from 8 p.m. Monday to 8 p.m. Tuesday, the center said.

Meanwhile, it said that areas including Xisha Qundao, Zhongsha Qundao and Nansha Qundao are expected to see heavy rainstorms, with precipitation reaching between 50 mm and 80 mm.

The center has urged local authorities to prepare emergency typhoon responses and remain on high alert for possible flooding and geological disasters.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

XINHUA

BELGRADE — Heavy snowfall has hit western and southwestern Serbia, prompting authorities to warn of potential disruptions to transportation and electricity supply on Monday.

The Serbian Hydrometeorological Institute (RHMZ) issued an urgent weather alert, forecasting intense snowfall from today through Wednesday with the heaviest snow expected in the western regions.

The Ministry of Interior’s Sector for Emergency Situations has advised citizens to avoid unnecessary travel and stay indoors. Residents have been urged to prepare for possible power outages.

To ensure timely communication, RHMZ has activated an emergency SMS notification system to inform the public of the severe weather conditions and provide necessary instructions.

Snowfall is expected to persist over the next two days, with emergency services on standby to clear roads and assist affected areas.

By Wednesday, between 20 and 40 cm of snow is forecast for lower areas, while mountain regions could receive over 50 cm, according to RHMZ.

XINHUA

SAO PAULO — At least nine people were killed on Sunday morning after a small plane crashed in the tourist city of Gramado in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities said.

The plane, with 10 people onboard, took off from Canela Airport near Gramado and crashed in the city of Gramado a few minutes later, the local civil defense department confirmed.

The plane first struck the chimney of a building, before crashing into a furniture store. The accident also injured 15 others on the ground, according to authorities.

XINHUA

KILLEEN, Texas — A pickup truck driver fleeing police careened through the doors of a JCPenney store in Texas and continued through a busy mall, injuring five people before he was fatally shot by officers, authorities said.

The truck crashed into the department store in Killeen, about 68 miles (109 kilometers) north of the state capital Austin, around 5:30 p.m. Saturday and continued into the building, striking people as it went, Sgt. Bryan Washko of the Texas Department of Public Safety said in an evening news briefing.

Emergency medical services transported four victims from the mall to area hospitals and another traveled to a hospital separately. They ranged in age from 6 to 75 years old and their conditions were not immediately known, he said.

The chase began around 5 p.m. on Interstate 14 in Belton, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Killeen, after authorities received calls about an erratic driver in a black pickup, Ofelia Miramontez of the Killeen Police Department said.

The driver then pulled off the road and drove into the parking lot of the mall.

“The suspect drove through the doors and continued to drive through the JCPenney store, striking multiple people,” Washko said. “The trooper and the Killeen police officer continued on foot after this vehicle, which was driving through the store, actively running people over. He traveled several hundred yards.”

Officers from the state public safety department, Killeen and three other law enforcement agencies “engaged in gunfire to eliminate this threat,” Washko said.

One of the officers who traded gunfire with the suspect was working as a security guard at the mall and others were off duty, he said.

Washko did not have information about the suspect’s identity at the time of the briefing.
Witnesses interviewed by local news outlets outside the mall said they heard multiple gunshots and saw people fleeing through the mall.

AN-AP

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday vowed to bring more “destruction” to Ukraine in retaliation for a drone attack on a high-rise apartment block in the central Russian city of Kazan a day earlier.

“Whoever, and however much they try to destroy, they will face many times more destruction themselves and will regret what they are trying to do in our country,” Putin said in comments on the attack on Kazan — which left no casualties — during a televised government meeting.

AN-AFP

MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday its air defense systems destroyed 42 Ukrainian drones over five Russian regions during the night.

Twenty drones were shot down over the Oryol region, eight drones each were destroyed in the Rostov and Bryansk regions, five in the Kursk region and one over Krasnodar Krai, the ministry said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

One attack triggered a fire at a fuel infrastructure facility in the village of Stalnoi Kon, said Andrei Klychkov, the governor of Oryol.

“Fortunately, thanks to the quick response, the consequences of the attack were avoided — the fire was promptly localized and is now fully extinguished. There were no casualties or significant damage,” he said.

It was the second week in a row where fuel infrastructure facilities in Oryol have been attacked.

The heads of the Rostov and Bryansk regions said there were no casualties or damage after the latest drone attacks.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.

AN-REUTERS