Turkish Cargo Plane Crashes on Kyrgyzstan Village, Killing 37
By Alan McGuinness, Sky News (UK) | Jan. 16, 2017
A cargo jet of Turkey has crashed in Kyrgyzstan, killing at least four pilots and dozens of people on the ground.
Most of the victims are believed to be residents of the village of Dacha-Suu, where the Boeing 747 came down in dense fog near Manas airport.
The plane reportedly crashed as it tried to land at around 7:30 a.m. local time in an area of the capital Biskek with a number of summer houses.
An official has said pilot error was to blame for the crash.
Mukhammed Svarov, head of the crisis management centre at the emergencies ministry, said the plane ploughed through the village for several hundred metres, damaging 15 buildings.
"The damage to infrastructure in the village is significant," he said.
He added that the number of dead "could be bigger" than the 37 fatalities confirmed so far.
"The plane crashed into the houses, it killed entire families," a witness told AFP.
"There's nothing left of the houses, people were killed with their whole family, their children. Many people were sleeping."
Pictures from the scene showed the nose of the plane stuck inside a house with large fragments of debris scattered around.
Several dozen homes are clustered around the metal fences that separate the runway from the residential area.
Fifteen people, six of them children, have been taken to hospital.
Airport officials said the jet had been due to make a stopover at Manas on its way from Hong Kong to Istanbul.
Kyrgyzstan's transport ministry said there were five people on board.
We are aware of reports involving a Turkish cargo airplane. Our team is gathering more details.
- Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) January 16, 2017
Turkish Airlines, the country's national carrier, expressed their condolences after the accident.
Our condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in the tragic incident involving an ACT Airlines aircraft in Kyrgyzstan.
- Turkish Airlines (@TurkishAirlines) January 16, 2017
Turkish Airlines also said in its tweet the aircraft was operated by ACT Airlines, an Istanbul-based freight airline that according to its website operates a fleet entirely made up of jumbo 747s. ACT Airlines also operates as myCargo Airlines.
Regarding the ACT Airlines accident in Kyrgyzstan: pic.twitter.com/GSPdgFAV2d
- Turkish Airlines (@TurkishAirlines) January 16, 2017
ACT said in a statement: "Our TC-MCL signed plane, flying on Jan. 16 from Hong Kong to Bishkek, crashed on landing at Bishkek at the end of the runway for an unknown reason."