Plane with 100 on board crashes in Kazakhstan, 15 killed

A passenger plane with 100 people on board, crashed on Friday (December 27) leaving nine dead, in Kazakhstan.

Confirming the incident, Almaty International Airport said 15 people died and 66 others injured in the crash of a Bek Air plane in Kazakhstan. The aircraft had 100 passengers and crew abroad, and hit a concrete fence and a two-story building shortly after takeoff. The airport said the plane lost attitude at 7:22 am (0122 GMT).

In a statement on its Facebook page, the airport said there was no fire and a rescue operation got underway immediately following the crash. The plane was flying to Nur-Sultan, the country’s capital formerly known as Astana.

However, the rescue operations are still underway. The Kazakhstan government has formed a special commission to investigate the incident.

“The commission is heading to the crash site. All the details and cause will be collected. Until the circumstances of the incident are clarified, all flights of planes of this type will be suspended,” ANI quoted the ministry as saying.

Further, the airport authorities have suspended flights of Fokker-100 planes following the crash.

The aircraft was identified as a Fokker-100, a medium-sized, twin-turbofan jet airliner. The company manufacturing the aircraft went bankrupt in 1996 and the production of the Fokker-100 stopped the following year.

(With inputs from agencies)