Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash: What we know so far about the tragedy that killed 38

It was Christmas Day when a passenger plane crashed in western Kazakhstan, near the city of Aktau. Out of 67 people on board, 38 died and 29 miraculously survived.

The Azerbaijan Airlines tragedy shook the world; a national day of mourning was declared and condolences came pouring in from across the globe.

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A video of the crash showed the plane descending rapidly before bursting into flames as it hit the seashore, and thick black smoke then rising. Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact.

Those who saw the plane when it hit the ground couldn't take the scene off their minds.

"They were covered in blood. They were crying. They were calling for help," said a Kazakh woman who rushed to the site to help survivors.

She said they saved some teenagers. "A girl pleaded: 'Save my mother, my mother is back there'," she told a radio show.

The aircraft's black box, which records the flight data, has been recovered, according to Azerbaijan's state news agency Azertac. Details from the log are yet to be available as investigations begin.

Here's what we know so far, based on preliminary findings:

Who was on the flight?

Azerbaijan Airlines reported that 67 people were on board the jet — 62 passengers and five crew members.

Twenty-nine survivors, including three children, have been hospitalised. The bodies of the dead were being recovered.

Where was the plane going?

The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course.

The Flight Radar website showed the plane deviating from its normal route, crossing the Caspian Sea and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the sea.

Aktau is on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan and Russia. Commercial aviation-tracking websites tracked the flight flying north on its scheduled route along the west coast before its flight path was no longer recorded. It then reappeared on the east coast, circling near Aktau airport before crashing into the beach.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the plane "made an emergency landing" around 3km from Aktau.

Why did it crash?

Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds before withdrawing the statement.

"Preliminary: after a collision with birds, due to an emergency situation on board, its commander decided to 'go' to an alternate airfield - Aktau was chosen," Russia's aviation watchdog also said on Telegram.

But a collision with birds typically results in the plane landing in the nearest available field, said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory. "You can lose control of the plane, but you don't fly wildly off course as a consequence."

• Plane with 67 passengers on board crashes in Kazakhstan; 28 survivors found