The plane was en route from Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, to the country’s capital of Nur-Sultan. The cause of the crash is not known
Almaty: A plane with 100 passengers on board has crashed in Kazakhstan, at least fourteen people killed, officials said.
According to sources the Bek, Air aircraft went down shortly after taking off at Almaty airport on Friday morning local time.
A Reuters reporter close to the incident said there was heavy fog in the area. The airport said there were survivors.
The plane was en route from Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, to the country’s capital of Nur-Sultan. The cause of the crash is not known.
In Almaty’s airport, it is said there were around 95 passengers and five crew on board.
It is also said the plane lost height at 07:22 local time (01:22 GMT), before striking a concrete barrier and crashing into a two-story building. There was no fire upon impact.
The Flightradar24 aviation information website said the flight departed at 01:21 GMT, and “the last signal was received in that same minute”.
It said Bek Air Flight Z92100 was a Fokker 100 plane.
Some footage has emerged of rescuers working at the scene. In it, a woman can be heard calling for an ambulance and the cockpit of the plane is seen wedged into the side of the building.
A special commission will be set up to determine the cause of the plane crash.
Kazakhstan’s President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev expressed “deep condolences” to the victims’ relatives. He said that “all those responsible will be punished in accordance with the law”.
In 1999 Bek Air was founded, targeting VIP flight operations, the company’s website said. Nowadays, the company describes itself as Kazakhstan’s first low-cost airline. Its fleet is made up of seven Fokker-100 aircraft.
This is not the first time earlier also serious plane crash in Almaty had happened. On 29 January 2013, a passenger plane traveling from the northern town of Kokshetau came down near Almaty, killing 20 people.
Earlier last month 27 people died when a military plane carrying senior officials crashed in the south of the country.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
