UPDATE: Passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan killing at least 14

Published On: December 27, 2019 11:04 AM NPT By: Reuters


UPDATE: Passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan killing at least 14
Emergency and security personnel are seen at the site of the plane crash near Almaty, Kazakhstan, December 27, 2019. REUTERS/Pavel Mikheyev

ALMATY, Dec 27:  A Bek Air plane with 95 passengers and five crew members on board crashed near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday shortly after taking off, killing at least 14 people, authorities in the Central Asian country said.

The Fokker 100 aircraft was heading for the capital, Nur-Sultan, and “lost altitude during takeoff and broke through a concrete fence” before hitting a two-storey building, Kazakhstan’s Civil Aviation Committee said in a statement.

At least 14 people were killed, and 22 have been hospitalized in grave condition, the Almaty mayor’s office said.

The plane was taking off before dawn. A Reuters reporter traveling to the airport said there was thick fog in the area at the time.

The crash site in Almerek village - just beyond the end of the runway - has been cordoned off.

Photographs from the site published by media showed the plane torn into two parts next to a house half-demolished by the impact.

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