Plane With 100 People On Board Crashes In Kazakhstan, At Least 12 Dead

The plane was heading for the capital, Nur-Sultan, and "lost altitude during takeoff and broke through a concrete fence" before hitting a small building, Kazakhstan's Civil Aviation Committee said in a statement

Plane With 100 People On Board Crashes In Kazakhstan, At Least 9 Dead/ Photo: Hamadi Aram (Twitter)

Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan): A plane with 100 people aboard belonging to Bek Air Company crashed near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday, airport authorities said. According to the Ministry, the aircraft lost altitude after take-off and crashed into a two-story building. Local aviation authorities in the Central Asian nation confirmed that the crash has left at least 12 people dead. The Kazakh Interior Ministry had initially said 15 people had been killed, but it later published a list of victims that mentioned only 12 dead, including the captain, a BBC report said. The Ministry said in a statement: "On board were five crew members and 93 passengers, among whom there are foreigners: two citizens of Ukraine, one citizen of Kyrgyzstan, one citizen of China and the rest of the citizens of Kazakhstan. Twelve people were killed, including the commander of the crew," news agency IANS quoted Efe news report.

@MFA_KZ has received with deep sadness the tragic news about the plane crash near the #Almaty city. We express our deepest #condolences to the families of the victims of the #BekAir plane crash. The Ministry wishes the injured passengers a speedy recovery. pic.twitter.com/MZ7Ih3CoQN

— MFA Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 (@MFA_KZ) December 27, 2019

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar told the media here: "Those (victims) were mainly passengers who were in the nose (of the aircraft). A total of 12 people were killed in the accident, eight of them were killed at the scene, two people died in the hospital and two others at the Almaty airport."

People in #Almaty have been lining up to donate blood for the victims of #BekAir #Z2100 crash. pic.twitter.com/tA2RfApSpq

— Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 (@Kazakhstan) December 27, 2019

Bek Air Flight Z2100 was en route from Almaty to the capital Nur-Sultan when it lost altitude and crashed into a concrete building at 7.22 a.m. It had 95 passengers and five crew members on board. Skylar added that that the runway at the airport was in perfect condition during take off. The plane was travelling from Almaty to the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan but disappeared from radars. The Kazakh government has created a special commission to investigate the incident. "The commission is heading for the crash site. All the details and causes (of the crash) will be found. Until the circumstances of the incident are clarified, all flights of planes of this type will be suspended," the ministry added. The airport authorities also said that they have suspended flights of Fokker-100 planes following the air crash. The Bek Air airline uses Fokker-100 planes for the flights from Almanty to Nur-Sultan. (With inputs from agencies)