ASTANA, Dec 25 (Reuters) - An Embraer

passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near

the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 67 passengers

and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying 12

people had survived.

Unverified video of the crash showed the plane, which was

operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, bursting into flames as it hit

the ground and thick black smoke then rising.

The Central Asian country's emergencies ministry said in a

statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that

survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer ( ERJ ) 190 aircraft, with

flight number J2-8243, had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the

capital of Russia's Chechnya, but had been forced to make an

emergency landing approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh

city of Aktau.

Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due

to fog in Grozny.

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.