Two passengers and one crew member on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters that they heard at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.

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

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Baku to the Chechnyan city of Grozny crashed Wednesday, killing 38. The plane flew hundreds of miles off its route and crashed on the wrong side of the Caspian Sea in Aktau,

A passenger jet operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian attack drones.

Footage shows survivors walking and being dragged away from the tail section of a crashed Azerbaijan Airlines plane. Wednesday's flight from Baku to Grozny in the Russian republic of Chechnya was diverted across the Caspian Sea and went down near the western Kazakhstan city of Aktau.

NBC News' Daniele Hamamdjian reports on the ongoing investigation into the Azerbaijan plane crash in Kazakhstan and a survivor's recollection of hearing a loud bang in the aircraft before it crashed.

Thirty-eight of 67 onboard flight from Baku to the Chechen city Grozny believed to have been killed. Russian authorities cite bird strike.

Azerbaijan held a day of mourning on Thursday for the dozens of victims of an airliner crash in Kazakhstan, as questions were being asked over the cause of the disaster.