China: Cargo plane crashes near airport

A cargo plane crashed into a residential area near an airport in north-western China today.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries after the Ilyushin Il-76 jet went down “among local residential houses” near the Urumqi International Airport in the Xinjiang region at 11am local time (4am Irish time), the official Xinhua News Agency said.

“There will be casualties but I’m not sure of the number of people yet,” said an airport press officer.

She said she did not know to which airline the plane belonged or whether it had been taking off or landing when it crashed.

State television reported that the plane was flying between Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, and Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It crashed about six miles away from the airport, the newscast said.

Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, is about 1,500 miles west of Beijing.