Dozens die in Kyrgyzstan passenger jet crash

A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a high school basketball team, crashed shortly after take-off near the Kyrgyz capital in Central Asia, killing at least 65.

The Boeing 737 was heading to Iran when it crashed near Bishkek’s Manas International Airport yesterday, said Yelena Bayalinova, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health.

She said there were 22 survivors and three missing in addition to the 65 dead.

An airport official said the crew reported a technical problem about 10 minutes into the flight and that the plane was returning to the airport when it crashed.

Officials said the crash followed the sudden decompression of the jet, which came down in a field near a village.

Among the survivors, Ms Bayalinova said, were seven out the 17 members of the basketball team from a school in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

Moldomusa Kongatiyev, the Kyrgyz interior minister, said the plane went down six miles from the airport.

At least 17 passengers were taken to hospital, said Bayalinova.

Major Damian Pickart, public affairs officer for the US air base located at the Manas airport, said US ambulances and firefighting equipment were dispatched to the crash site in response to a Kyrgyz request for help.

Several government officials said the plane belonged to Itek Air, a Kyrgyz company, but was operated by Iran Aseman Airlines. But Tokon Mamytov, the presidential adviser, said the plane was both owned and operated by Itek Air.

Itek Air has been banned from operating in the airspace of the European Union because of failure to meet safety and aviation standards, according to a list published by the EU on July 24.

Kyrgyzstan is a poor, mountainous country west of China. The US air base in the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan supports operations in nearby Afghanistan.

Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan and the country’s largest city, has a population about one million and is situated in the northern part of the central Asian nation.