A passenger plane thought to be carrying more than 100 people has crashed on Christmas Day.

The doomed Azerbaijan Airlines jet hit the ground and burst into a fireball in Aktau, Kazakhstan. The Embraer E190AR with registration number 4K-AZ65 had sent a distress signal following a collision with a bird as it had intended to reach Grozny in Russia.

Several people are feared dead, Kazakhstan Health Minister Akmaral Alnazarova said. There are at least 28 survivors, though seven of these are said to be in critical conditions. Two of these are children, believed to be girls aged 11 and 16. Mr Alnazarova said 23 ambulances were dispatched to the scene.

Kazaeronavigatsiya, the Kazakhstan air navigation service, said: “An Embraer 190 AHY8243 aircraft travelling on the Baku-Grozny route declared an emergency situation due to collision with a bird and violation of steering control. The aircraft was carrying 105 passengers and five crew members.” Aktau residents have been asked to donate blood for the survivors.

The plane declared the emergency situation at an altitude of 2,125 feet over the Caspian Sea. It hit a bird – or several birds – and then came plummeting down, smashing to the ground at speed. An oxygen tank exploded onboard, it is reported.

The plane crashed in Kazakhstan ( 
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It is understood heavy fog further impacted the plane’s emergency landing. Of those on board the plane, around 60 are believed to be Russians. The nationalities of the other tourists remain unclear at this stage. Aktau airport is open and operating normally, authorities said. The Mirror has contacted Azerbaijan Airlines for comment.

Grozny – the planned destination – is the capital of the Chechnya republic, a Russian region controlled by Vladimir Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov which regularly sends troops to fight in the war against Ukraine.

The tragedy follows the death of a man in his 50s this week after a light aircraft in which he was travelling crashed near Fife Airport in Scotland. Emergency services srambled to the crash at about 11.40am on Monday, after the plane plummeted shortly after taking off from the airport’s runway. Members of the public were urged to avoid the area as police locked the site down to carry out their enquiries.

Police Scotland later confirmed a man, thought to have been the pilot, died at the scene. Fife Airport is located three miles west of Glenrothes and offers light aircraft travel and skydives. The airfield is also used by Tayside Aviation to train pilots. Its runway sits just under 30 miles north of Edinburgh.