Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Baku to the Russian city of Grozny when it was diverted for reasons yet unclear and crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan.

Several passenger plane crashes have occurred worldwide this year, including a Wednesday morning Azerbaijan Airlines wreck that has left dozens feared dead.

ASTANA – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed condolences after the tragic crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane on Dec. 25 in Aktau and called for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation.

The flight was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s south, when it diverted and attempted an emergency landing in Kazakhstan.

A passenger jet operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian attack drones.

On 25 December, 38 people died when an Azerbaijan Airlines flight, which had been due to land in Russia, crash-landed in Kazakhstan. The circumstances around the crash remain unclear, but limited evidence so far suggests it may have been damaged by missiles fired by a Russian air-defence system as it tried to land in Chechnya.

Azerbaijan's president accused Russia of trying to cover up its role in a plane crash that killed 38 people. Preliminary results of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the crash indicated that a missile from a Russian air-defense system hit the aircraft.