Aliyev Rushes Back to Baku

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, is returning to Baku from Russia in connection with the crash of an AZAL airplane. This was reported by RIA Novosti.

Today, Aliyev was supposed to attend an unofficial summit of CIS leaders in St. Petersburg.

The Azerbaijani airline's flight from Baku to Grozny crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan. According to preliminary information, there were 67 passengers and 5 crew members on board the plane. The Kazakh Ministry of Health reports that 6 people survived the crash.

Among the passengers were 37 citizens of Azerbaijan, 6 from Kazakhstan, 3 from Kyrgyzstan, and 16 from the Russian Federation.