A passenger plane carrying 67 people from Azerbaijan to southern Russia crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday, local authorities said.

An Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, after diverting from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks.

An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Christmas Day has prompted speculation the plane was shot down by Russia after it took a detour of hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and crash-landed with holes in the fuselage.

ASTANA – An Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny with 67 people on board crashed on Dec. 25 morning in Aktau, killing 38 people, including six Kazakh nationals, and leaving 29 survivors. According to Kazakh Transport Minister Marat Karabayev, 67 people were on board, including 62 passengers and five crew members.

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight carrying 67 people from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed in Kazakhstan. NBC News' Kelly Cobiella reports what is known about the number of survivors so far.

An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger flight from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed in Kazakhstan while attempting to make an emergency landing, with dozens feared dead.

An international investigation has begun into how an Embraer 190 passenger jet with 67 people onboard crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people but leaving 29 survivors Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243, which had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia‘s Chechnya, crash-landed instead at Aktau airport.

The Azerbaijani Airlines plane that crashed on Dec. 25 en route to Russia may have been shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile, according to reports from independent Russian media outlets. The aircraft,

Russia damaged an Azerbaijani passenger plane using a surface-to-air missile system, causing it to crash in Kazakhstan, stated the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine,