No fewer than 14 people have died after a Bek Air plane with almost 100 people on board crashed near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan.
The incident occurred Friday morning shortly after the plane took off.
Kazakhstan’s Civil Aviation Committee, in a statement, said the Fokker 100 aircraft, heading for the capital, Nur-Sultan, “lost altitude during takeoff and broke through a concrete fence” before hitting a two-storey building.
In its statement, Almaty International Airport disclosed that 22 people suffered severe injuries and were taken to two hospitals.
A survivor told News website Tengrinews she heard a “terrifying sound” before the plane started losing altitude.
“The plane was flying with a tilt. Everything was like in a movie: screaming, shouting, people crying,” she said.
In his reaction, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his condolences to the friends and families of those killed in the crash.
“All those injured will be rendered assistance. All those responsible will carry severe punishment in accordance with the law,” Kaz Inform news agency quoted the president as saying in the Kazakh language.
All Bek Air and Fokker 100 flights in Kazakhstan have been suspended while a special commission has commenced probe of the crash.
