This is the horrific moment a passenger plane hit the ground in a fireball in a Christmas Day crash landing in Kazakhstan.

There were 67 passengers and five crew members on board the Azerbaijan airlines fight from Azerbaijan capital Baku to Russian city Grozny. 

Footage of the crash showed the plane bursting into flames as it hit the ground and thick black smoke then rising. 

The plane was in flames and broke into several parts on landing in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan. The country’s emergency situations ministry said its personnel were putting out a fire at the site.

‘At the moment, 14 survivors have been taken to the regional hospital, including five in intensive care,’ the health ministry’s regional department said in a statement. 

Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the Embraer 190 had ‘made an emergency landing’ around three kilometres from Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.

‘A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,’ the Kazakh ministry said on Telegram.

The Embraer E190AR with registration number 4K-AZ65 sent out a distress signal at an altitude of 2,125 feet over the Caspian Sea.

This is the horrific moment a passenger plane hit the ground in a fireball in a Christmas Day crash landing

There were 105 passengers and five crew members on board the fight from Azerbaijan capital Baku to Russian city Grozny. Earlier reports had suggested 67 on board

Reports said the plane collided with a bird and suffered a steering failure. The aircraft is seen coming in steeply descending its nose pointing down too steeply

People are seen standing next to the crashed passenger jet

Reports said the plane collided with a bird and suffered a steering failure. 

Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into different possible versions of what had happened, including a technical problem, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. 

Footage shows the aircraft coming in steeply descending its nose pointing down too steeply.

It attempted to land at Aktau in western Kazakhstan after being rerouted from Grozny and another Russian city Makhachkala due to fog.

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.’

Footage from  the crash site shows rescuers looking for survivors of the horrific crash

Another angle shows a massive fireball where the aircraft hit the ground

At least 60 Russians were reported to be on board.

Grozny – the 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.

There was no immediate comment from Azerbaijan Airlines. 

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.