At least 12 people were killed and about 60 injured after a plane crashed with 98 people on board in Kazakhstan.
The aircraft, from the airline Bek Air, fell shortly after taking off this Friday morning from Almaty city airport and crashed into a building, according to airport authorities.
The aircraft was accompanied by 93 passengers and five crew members, and was headed from Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, to the country’s capital, Nursultan.
The victims were initially reported to be 15, but later the official figures were 12.
Kazakhstan’s President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev expressed his “deep condolences” to the relatives of the victims.
A Reuters reporter near the site said there was a lot of fog in the area.
What is known about the accident?
The device lost height around 07:22 local time (01:22 GMT), before rushing into a concrete wall and crashing into a two-story building.
A complete list of passengers published by Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry said there were 85 adults, five children and three babies on board, not counting the crew.
The airport later published the list of 60 survivors being treated in hospitals.
Maral Erman, one of the survivors, said the plane was shaking during takeoff, the Tengri News website published.
She recounted that it first felt as if the plane had landed, but actually “hit something.”
“There was not much chaos on board. There was no screaming,” Erman deed, adding that the crew opened the exit doors for passengers to leave the plane.
The passenger added that she later saw the plane “split in half.”
Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry reported that 6 children were among the dead, citing preliminary information.
Aviation information website Flightradar24 said the flight departed at 01:21 GMT, and “the last signal was received at that very minute.”
Bek Air was founded in 1999, with the aim of carrying out VIP flight operations, according to the company on its website.
Currently, the company describes itself as a low-cost airline.
This is not the first serious plane crash in the city: on January 29, 2013, a passenger plane travelling from the northern city of Kokshetau fell near Almaty, killing 20 people.
A month earlier, on December 26, 2012, a military plane with Kazakh security agents crashed in the south of the country, leaving 27 casualties.
