65 killed in Kyrgyz plane crash

BISHKEK (AFP) - A jet belonging to an airline on a European blacklist crashed after take-off from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, killing 65 people and leaving wreckage and bodies strewn over a wide area.

Many foreigners were among the dead as the 90 passengers and crew on the Boeing 737 bound for Tehran included 51 nationals from Canada, China, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkey, the Kyrgyz prime minister’s office said Monday.

“According to the latest information 65 people were killed, 22 were hospitalised with various injuries and three returned home after receiving medical help,” Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said at meeting to brief President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Bakiyev ordered a national day of mourning for Tuesday.

The jet burst into flames during an emergency landing as it tried to get back to Bishkek’s Manas airport late Sunday.

Chudinov said the plane, built in 1979 and owned by Kyrgyz airline Itek Air, suffered a dramatic loss of pressure before making its emergency landing near the village of Dzhany-Dzher.