89 people killed in two plane crashes

EIGHTY-NINE people were killed yesterday in two air crashes, one in Turkey and the second in the United States.

Early reports suggested that at least 68 people perished when a Turkish Airlines jet crashed in south-eastern Turkey last night.

Up to eight people were initially believed to have survived, but authorities were unsure of that figure and suspected there may have been fewer. The plane had been en route from Istanbul to the city of Diyarbakir when it crashed on approach to land, according to an Istanbul airport official. Heavy fog shrouded the airport at the time of the crash. The official said the plane came down two miles short of the airport, which is used by both military and civil aircraft. The jet was carrying 71 passengers and five crew. Three of those who miraculously survived were taken to hospital in Diyarbakir, where a spokesperson said “they are not seriously injured.”

Earlier yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina, a commuter plane carrying 21 people crashed into an airport hangar and burst into flames killing everyone on board.

The cause of the crash, which was the worst US air accident in 14 months, was unclear last night.

According to Federal Aviation Authority records, the aircraft had reported service difficulties 10 times. In November, the company reported a leaking fuel pump, which was replaced. In May, the plane’s left main landing gear wouldn’t retract as it was taking off.

The US Airways Express Flight 5481, a Beech 1900 twin-engine turboprop, was taking off in clear, windy weather from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport when it hit the corner of the hangar at full throttle just before 9am.

“The plane was climbing too steeply,” said one witness. “I told my girlfriend, ‘It looks like that plane is not doing right.’”

As they stopped to watch, he said the plane moved into a twisting dive. Nineteen passengers and two crew members were aboard the Air Midwest flight bound for Greenville-Spartanburg, in South Carolina. The plane took off to the south and veered sharply back towards the airport and crashed into a US Airways hangar, according to an airport spokesman.

“The plane is so destroyed there’s not much to see, it’s just a horrible sight,” he said. The pilot contacted the tower after take-off and indicated an emergency, FAA spokesman Greg Martin said. “However, it was cut short and the emergency was never identified,” Martin said.

There was no immediate indication of terrorism, the FBI said.

The plane was about eight years old and had 15,000 hours of flight time and 21,000 take-offs and landings, said Jonathan Ornstein, chief executive of Mesa Airlines, which owns Air Midwest.