There were at least two natives of Tajikistan having Russian citizenship on board the Azerbaijan plane that crashed upon landing near the airport of the Kazakh city of Aktau Wednesday morning. 

One of them – Zinatullo Sadulloyev – was killed in the crash, while another one – Subhonqul Rahimov – survived the plane crash.  

Zinatullo Saidulloyev's name appears on the list of deceased Russian citizens

As Zinatullo's friend Behrouz Sharifov told Your.tj, he would have turned 29 in just 10 days.  Behrouz also mentioned that Zinatullo is survived by his wife and two children.

Zinatullo Saidulloyev had been a Russian citizen since 2020 and was originally from the Faizobod district.

Subhonqul Rahimov, a native of Tajikistan with Russian citizenship, has reportedly lived in Yekaterinburg with his family for many years, was traveling to Grozny on personal business.

He was seated in the tail section of the aircraft at the time of the crash.  During the tragedy, the tail of the plane detached from the fuselage, which allowed most passengers in that section to survive.

Meanwhile, some media reports say two other natives of Tajikistan, Furqat Hamroqulov and Rukhshona Sidiqova, narrowly avoided the fatal flight from Baku to Grozny.  Both were supposed to board the plane that crashed in Aktau but were prevented from doing so at the last moment.  Both are Russian citizens.

As it had been reported earlier, the Azerbaijani Airlines plane with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors.

The Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to the Russian city of Grozny when it was diverted and attempted an emergency landing 3 kilometers from the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

Those aboard the plane reportedly included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals.

Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities said they were investigating the crash.