BAKU, Dec 24: The bodies of all 23 people killed in an Azerbaijan plane crash have been recovered from the seaside, police said. The flight crashed on Friday on its way to Kazakhstan from the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

“All the 23 bodies have been found. The reason for the crash is believed to be a technical malfunction, but we are investigating all possible causes,” Hamidaga Gulamov, an interior ministry dispatcher, told AFP.

The plane, a Ukrainian-made Antonov An-140, crashed shortly after taking off from Baku late on Friday en route to the oil town of Aktau, across the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan, the carrier, state-owned AZAL, said.

“Everyone on board was killed. The authorities are investigating the incident,” the AZAL said in a faxed statement, adding that the plane had ‘disappeared’ from the radar five minutes after taking off.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev offered his condolences to the victims’ families and ordered a speedy investigation, his office said in a statement.

Eight foreigners were on the flight.