Not less than 42 persons may have died in an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Wednesday morning, Christmas Day in the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan’s emergency ministry said in a statement on Telegram that 42 people of the 67 on board the Embraer 190 are likely dead, while 25 survived, of which 22 have been hospitalised.

According to preliminary reports from the airline, flight 8432 travelling from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in Russia made an emergency landing some 3 kilometres from Aktau after reportedly colliding with a flock of birds.

More than 50 first responders and 11 units of equipment from the Kazakhstan emergency ministry were deployed to the site of the crash.

The plane was carrying 67 people, including five members of the cabin crew.