ALMATY, Kazakhstan (TCA) — A Kazakhstan-based Bek Air plane with 95 passengers and five crew on board crashed early on December 27 after takeoff near the Almaty airport, RFE/RL reports.
Kazakhstan’s authorities said at least 12 people were killed in the crash.
Officials later on December 27 said 49 people survived the crash with injuries.
Kazakhstan’s Civil Aviation Committee said the aircraft “lost altitude during takeoff and broke through a concrete fence” before hitting a two-story building.
Officials said the plane was headed for the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan.
“A Bek Air plane en route from Almaty to Nur-Sultan, Flight 2100, departed at 7:05 a.m. (4:05 a.m. Moscow time) on time and then disappeared from the radar. Ninety-five passengers and five crewmembers were onboard,” the airport said on its Facebook page.
“The Bek Air plane fell outside the airport. There are survivors. Emergency services are working at the site,” it added.
The crash site, in an area called Almerek village just beyond the end of the runway, was cordoned off.
Bek Air operates a fleet of Fokker 100 jets. The country’s aviation committee said it was suspending all flights of that type of aircraft in the aftermath of the crash pending an investigation.
Records show that the plane involved in the incident, a Fokker-100, was 23.7 years old.
Officials said an investigation had begun in the search for a cause for the crash.
“Those responsible will face tough punishment in accordance with the law,” Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev tweeted, while expressing condolences to victims and their families.
