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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyzstani high-school sports team, crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday near the capital, killing 68, government officials said.
The Boeing 737 was headed to Iran when it crashed near Bishkek's Manas International Airport, said government spokeswoman Roza Daudova. Twenty-two people, including two crew members, survived the accident.
Earlier, Ms. Daudova had said there were at least 71 dead and 25 survivors, but she later gave lower figures.
An airport official said the crew reported a technical problem about 10 minutes into the flight and that the plane was returning to the airport when it crashed. The official said she was not authorized to give her name.
Fire fighters, rescuers and investigators work at the crash site of a Boeing 737 passenger jet, 10 kilometers from Manas International Airport near the Kyrgyztani capital Bishkek. 9Elena Skochilo/Associated Press)
Recent airline disasters
Here is a chronology of major airline disasters in the last two years:
Aug. 22, 2006: A Russian Tu-154 operated by Pulkovo Airlines crashes 48 kilometres north of the east Ukrainian town of Donetsk, killing all 170 passengers and crew.
Sept. 29: One hundred and fifty-four people are killed when a Boeing 737-800 operated by the low-cost Gol airline crashes in the Amazon rain forest.
Oct. 29: A Boeing 737 operated by domestic carrier ADC, crashes after take off on a flight from Abuja to Sokoto. Only seven of the 106 people aboard the flight survived.
Jan. 1, 2007: An Indonesian Boeing 737-400 operated by budget carrier Adam Air disappeared from radar screens during a flight from Java to Sulawesi islands. Wreckage was located at sea 10 days later. All 102 passengers and crew were killed.
May 5: All 114 people on board a Kenya Airways Boeing 737 are killed after the plane crashed in torrential rain after takeoff from Douala in Cameroon en route to Nairobi.
July 17: A Brazilian TAM passenger plane crashes into buildings when trying to land in Sao Paulo, killing 199 people aboard and on the ground.
Nov. 30: An Atlasjet MD83 crashes near Keciborlu, Turkey. The plane was on a domestic flight from Istanbul to Isparta when it disappeared from radar screens. All 57 people aboard were killed.
Aug. 20, 2008: A Spanair MD-82, flying to the Canary Islands with 166 passengers and six crew, crashes on takeoff at Madrid airport killing 154 people. The remaining 18 are seriously injured.
Reuters
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Officials said the crash followed the sudden decompression of the jet, which came down in a field near a village.
Among the survivors, were seven out the 17 members of the basketball team from a school in the capital, Bishkek, said Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova. Presidential adviser Tokon Mamytov, however, later said that the athletes were volleyball, not basketball players.
Eighteen survivors were sent to hospital, and four others were sent home with no serious injuries, according to Ms. Daudova.
Ms. Daudova said the people on board the plane included 24 Kyrgyzstani citizens, 52 Iranians, three Kazakhs, two Canadians, one citizen of Turkey and one Chinese.
Kyrgyz Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev said the plane went down 6 miles from the airport.
Maj. Damian Pickart, public affairs officer for the U.S. air base located at the Manas airport, said U.S. ambulances and firefighting equipment were dispatched to the crash site in response to a Kyrgyz request for help.
Several government officials said the plane belonged to Itek Air, a Kyrgyzstani company, but was operated by Iran Aseman Airlines. But Mamytov, the presidential adviser, said the plane was both owned and operated by Itek Air.
Itek Air has been banned from operating in the airspace of the European Union because of failure to meet safety and aviation standards, according to a list published by the EU July 24.
Kyrgyzstan is a poor, mountainous country west of China. The U.S. air base in the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan supports operations in nearby Afghanistan.
Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan and the country's largest city, has a population about 1 million and is situated in the northern part of the Central Asian nation.
Manas International Airport is about 25 kilometres northwest of downtown.
