The Embraer 190 was traveling to Grozny, Russia, but crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people onboard. Investigators are focusing on Russian air defense as the likely cause.

As many as 38 persons were killed in the deadly crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines-operated Embraer 190 plane near the Aktau city of Kazakhstan.

In a Dec. 27 phone conversation with Aliyev, Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev discussed the progress of work of the special state commission to investigate the crash and assured that the Kazakh side will make every effort to ensure comprehensive and objective clarification of all circumstances of the crash.