Turkish cargo jet crash in Kyrgyzstan kills 37

A Turkish cargo jet crashed near Kyrgyzstan’s Manas airport yesterday, killing at least 37 people, most of them residents of a village struck by the Boeing 747 as it tried to land in dense fog, Kyrgyz officials said

Kyrgyz Emergency Ministry officials and firefighters work among remains of a crashed Turkish Boeing 747 cargo plane at a residential area outside Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Monday. Pic/AP

Bishkek: A Turkish cargo jet crashed near Kyrgyzstan’s Manas airport yesterday, killing at least 37 people, most of them residents of a village struck by the Boeing 747 as it tried to land in dense fog, Kyrgyz officials said.

According to the airport administration, the plane was supposed to make a stopover in Manas on its way from Hong Kong to Istanbul. It crashed when trying to land in poor visibility at 7.31 am (0131 GMT). The doomed plane ploughed on for a few hundred metres through the Dachi Suu village, home to hundreds of families, shattering into pieces and damaging dozens of buildings.

Initial estimates put the death toll from the crash at 37, said Kyrgyzstan’s emergencies ministry.

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev announced that Tuesday would be a national day of mourning.

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