At least 12 killed, dozens injured after jet crashes
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan President KassymJomart Tokayev ordered an inspection of all airlines and aviation infrastructure in the country after a jetliner carrying 98 people crashed shortly after takeoff Friday, killing at least 12 people. The Bek Air jet, identified as a 23yearold Fokker 100, hit a concrete wall and a twostory building soon after departing from Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and former capital, airport officials said.
The aircraft’s tail also struck the runway twice during takeoff, indicating that it struggled to get off the ground, Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar said.
Fiftyfour people were reported hospitalized with injuries, at least 10 of them in critical condition, officials said.
The cause of the predawn crash was unclear. Authorities quickly suspended all Bek Air and Fokker 100 flights in Kazakhstan while the investigation got under way.
One survivor said the plane started shaking less than two minutes after takeoff.
“At first, the left wing jolted really hard, then the right. The plane continued to gain altitude, shaking quite severely, and then went down,” said Aslan Nazaraliyev.
Government officials said the jet underwent deicing before the flight, but Nazaraliyev recalled that its wings were covered in ice, and passengers who used emergency exits over the wings slipped and fell. The weather in Almaty was clear, with temperatures just below freezing. The plane was flying to NurSultan, the capital formerly known as Astana.
Video footage showed the front of the brokenup fuselage rammed against a building and the rear of the plane lying in a field next to the airport.
Passengers who survived may have been saved by the fact that the plane crashed at a lower speed and from a lower altitude because it was taking off, and it came down in terrain that may have eased the impact.
The government promised to pay families of the dead around $10,000 each.
Kazakhstan’s airsafety record is far from spotless. In 2009, all Kazakh airlines — with the exception of the flagship carrier Air Astana — were banned from operating in the European Union because they did not meet international safety standards. The ban was lifted in 2016.