Kazakh deputy PM: 38 killed in plane crash near Aktau

ASTANA. Dec 25 (Interfax) - Thirty-eight people have died in an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash near Kazakhstan's Aktau, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev, who leads a state commission investigating the crash, said on Wednesday.

"The situation is not very good, 38 are dead," Bozumbayev said at a meeting with an Azerbaijani delegation in Aktau on Wednesday.

Proper expert studies will be arranged to identify the remains of the crash victims, he said.

Bozumbayev assured the Azerbaijani delegation members that all the necessary medicines for treating the survivors were available and that Kazakhstan dispatched an aircraft with a team of medical experts from Astana to Aktau.

Speaking a briefing in Aktau, Kazakh Transport Minister Marat Karabayev said that "there were 67 people on board the plane, [including] 62 passengers and five crewmembers. Unfortunately, 38 people have died and 29 survived it."

"Regarding the passengers, 37 people from Azerbaijan were on board, 23 died and 14 survived, three people from Kyrgyzstan, all survived, 16 passengers from Russia, seven died and nine survived, and six passengers from Kazakhstan, unfortunately, our compatriots died," Karabayev said.

Three crewmembers survived the crash, while two others died, he said. "Two out of the five crewmembers have died and three others survived" the crash, he said.

For his part, Kazakh Deputy Health Minister Yerbol Ospanov said that "one child, date of birth is being clarified," is among those killed in the plane crash.

Kazakh Chief Transport Prosecutor Timur Suleimenov said at the briefing that a black box was found on the crash site. "The black box was found and attached to material evidence," Suleimenov said.

Meanwhile, the operational headquarters specified that the found black box is the cockpit voice recorder. "Preliminary reports indicate that a cockpit voice recorder was discovered. It is visually in satisfactory condition and is subject to decoding," the headquarters told Interfax.