Passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan killing at least nine
ReutersDecember 26, 2019, 9:21 PM CST
ALMATY (Reuters) - A Bek Air plane with 95 passengers and five crew members on board crashed near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday, killing at least nine 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.
According to the Emergencies Committee, at least nine people were killed. The government and Almaty airport said emergency services were working at the site to get survivors out.
A Reuters reporter traveling to the airport said there was thick fog in the area.
Photographs from the crash site published by media showed the damaged plane with large cracks in its body next to a house half-demolished by the impact.
Kazakh carrier Bek Air, which operates a fleet of Fokker 100 jets, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The aviation committee said it was suspending all flights of that type of aircraft pending an investigation.
"Those responsible will face tough punishment in accordance with the law," Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev tweeted, expressing condolences to the victims and their families.
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