A Turkish cargo jet has crashed near Kyrgyzstan's Manas airport, killing at least 32 people, most of them residents of village struck by the Boeing 747 as it tried to land in dense fog, Kyrgyz officials stated.
As stated by the airport administration, the plane was supposed to make a stopover at Manas, near the capital city Bishkek, on its way from Hong Kong to Istanbul on Monday.
#TK6491 a MyCargo Airlines Boeing 747-400F TC-MCL, 1st delivered to Singapore Cargo in 2003. https://t.co/48HSEqywlh https://t.co/n1HpEnTxir pic.twitter.com/NLmEnYv1GE
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 16, 2017
It crashed when trying to land in poor visibility at 7:31 local time (01:31 GMT).
The doomed plane damaged 15 buildings in the village, said Mukhammed Svarov, head of crisis management centre at the emergencies ministry, putting the toll at least 32 people after initially reporting 15 deaths.
Medical staff stated that six children were among the victims. Four pilots also died, the health ministry stated.
As stated by Flightradar24 the plane belonged to MyCargo Airlines, a Turkish cargo airline based in Istanbul.
Local media reported that the plane, operated by Turkish Airlines under flight number TK6491, crashed while attempting to land in Bishkek.
AljazeeraPhotos of the #TK6491 crash site, via Kyrgyz national broadcaster @KTRK_kg . https://t.co/IofUfdunxC
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 16, 2017