Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev says that a criminal case was launched to probe into the Azerbaijan Airline passenger plane that crashed early on Wednesday in Kazakhstan killing at least 38 people.

"According to the information provided to me, the AZAL airline plane, flying on the Baku-Grozny route, changed its course due to worsening weather conditions and began heading toward Aktau airport, where the crash occurred during landing.

General, has sent a letter of condolences to President Ilham Aliyev over the plane crash near Aktau, Kazakhstan.

The Commission's work is to fully study the issue, investigate the causes and all details of the airplane crash, and inform me and the public of Azerbaijan, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in particular during a meeting at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in connection with the airplane crash,

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to express his condolences following the tragic crash of an AZAL passenger plane near Aktau, Kazakhstan,

The Azerbaijan Airlines flight was en route from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, but was rerouted due to fog and crashed near the Aktau airport. A video from Turkey shows a cargo ship rolling onto its side at a port in Istanbul after an imbalance in the cargo load.

BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 25. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the plane crash near Aktau, Trend reports. The President shared a post on his social media accounts regarding the tragedy.