At least 14
people died have killed on Friday when a passenger plane carrying 100 people
crashed into a house shortly after takeoff from Kazakhstan’s largest city.
The the
airport authority in a statement said the Bek Air plane “fell off the
radar” minutes after it took off from Almaty airport at 7.05 am (01:05
GMT) on its way to the capital, Nur-Sultan.
“There
are 14 dead at the (crash) site,” the city government said in a statement
sent from its Telegram messenger app.
It added
that a further 17 patients were being treated in hospital in a “serious
condition”, including at least eight children.
A video,
released by the Central Asian country’s emergencies committee, showed the front
of the plane crushed into a house that was partially collapsed, as rescue crews
worked to pull people from the wreckage.
Rescue
workers could be seen reaching into the windows of the shattered cock pit, as
scores of emergency staff gathered at the site.
President
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pledged to provide families of the victims with
compensation and tweeted that those responsible “will be severely punished
in accordance with the law.”
Tokayev also
said that a government commission had been set up to investigate the
circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Kazakhstan’s
industry ministry said in a statement Friday that the Fokker-100 model would be
grounded until the cause of the accident became clear.
