A Bek aeroplane with 98 people on board has crashed shortly after takeoff early on Friday morning in Kazakstan. So far the crash has claimed at least 15 deaths, with 50 of them hospitalised.
It is unclear how many people were in the building but search and rescue teams are working with a local ground force to work through the wreckage.
The plane was flying to Nur-Sultan, the country’s capital formerly known as Astana. Footage from the scene of the accident appeared to show the Fokker-100, Bek Air aircraft hit a concrete fence and a two-story building after takeoff from Almaty International Airport. It lost attitude at 0122 GMT.
A statement released from the Almaty Airport he airport said the fire and rescue operation got underway immediately following the crash and locals are helping the search through the building rubble for survivors.
Around 1,000 people were working at the snow-covered site of the crash. The weather in Almaty was clear, with the sub-zero temperature that is common at this time of the year.
Footage showed the front of the broken-up fuselage rammed a house and the rear of the plane lying in the field next to the airport.
The aircraft was a Fokker-100, a medium-sized, twin-turbofan jet airliner. Running on a Rolls Royce engine, manufactured in the UK. The company manufacturing the aircraft went bankrupt in 1996 and the production of the Fokker-100 stopped the following year.
All Bek Air and Fokker-100 flights in Kazakhstan have been suspended pending the investigation of the crash, the country’s authorities said.
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