Dozens killed after cargo plane crashes into village

Authorities put death toll at 37 and say 23 houses were destroyed

A Turkish cargo plane crashed on Monday in a village just outside the main airport in Kyrgyzstan, killing 37 people on the ground and in the plane, officials said.

The Boeing 747 crashed on approach to the Manas airport, south of the capital, Bishkek.

Reports of the death toll ranged from 37 people, according to emergency officials in the Central Asian nation, to 31 reported by the presidential press office, which also said rescue teams had recovered parts of nine bodies. Fifteen people including six children have been hospitalized.

Footage from the scene showed the plane's nose stuck inside a brick house and large chunks of debris scattered around. A dozen body bags were laid on the ground in the yard of one of the homes.

Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Minister Kubatbek Boronov said that 23 out of 43 houses in the village have been destroyed. Several dozen private houses are near the fence separating the cottages from the runway.

"I woke up because of a bright red light outside," Baktygul Kurbatova, who was slightly injured, told local television. "I couldn't understand what was happening. It turns out the ceiling and the walls were crashing on us. I was so scared but I managed to cover my son's face with my hands so that debris would not fall on him."

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Boronov said it was foggy when the plane came down but weather conditions were not critical.

Authorities had blamed pilot error but that had not been definitively established.

One of the two flight recorders has been recovered at the scene, the office of the Kyrgyz prime minister said on Monday afternoon.

(China Daily 01/17/2017 page12)