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.

Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons that aren't fully clear yet. It crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea.

Officials say an Azerbaijani airliner has crashed in the Kazakhstani city of Aktau with Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry now saying that at least 28 people survived the crash, which could mean that over 30 people are likely dead.

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the Azerbaijani Airlines plane making a steep descent before slamming into the ground in a fireball in western Kazakhstan.

Dozens of people have survived a crash involving a plane carrying 67 people in Kazakhstan, local officials say. Kazakh authorities said 38 people were killed in the crash. Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it attempted to make an emergency landing near the Kazakh city of Aktau.

Rashad Nabiyev, Ministry of Digital Development and Transportation of Azerbaijan, said that eyewitness accounts and holes in the fuselage of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan indicate external influence,

On Christmas Day, a plane traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, crashed in Kazakhstan, killing over half of its passengers. Theories abound regarding why the plane made an emergency landing near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau.

(AP) — An Azerbaijani airliner has crashed in Kazakhstan after being diverted, killing 38 of 67 people on board. Some things to know about the crash and the speculation about a possible cause:

Sources told Reuters the plane had been hit by Russian fire. "It was as if it was drunk - not the same plane anymore," one passenger recalled.