At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured when a plane carrying nearly 100 passengers crashed early Friday morning in Kazakhstan.
The cause was not yet known, but fog was present in the area and a passenger said the Bek Air plane's wings were covered in ice.
The plane lost altitude shortly after takeoff and crashed into a house near the city of Almaty, according to the Associated Press.
There were 98 people on board. Twelve were confirmed dead and 54 were hospitalized with injuries, at least 10 of whom were in critical condition.
Passenger Aslan Nazaraliyev said the plane started shaking less than two minutes after takeoff from Almaty International Airport.
"At first, the left wing jolted really hard, then the right," Nazaraliyev told the AP. "The plane continued to gain altitude, shaking quite severely, and then went down."
Nazaraliyev said the wings of the plane were covered in ice and passengers were slipping and falling down as they evacuated the crashed plane via the emergency exits over the wings.
Government officials said the plane underwent deicing before the flight. Temperatures were just below freezing and the crash site was covered in snow.
Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar told reporters a commission will investigate the incident, according to Reuters.
"Before crashing, the aircraft touched the runway with its tail twice, the gear was retracted," Sklyar said.
"A commission ... will establish whether this was pilot error or technical issues. The runway was in an ideal condition."
The battered remains of the front of the plane and parts of the fuselage were scattered around the crushed house.
"The plane was flying at a tilt," another survivor told news website Tengrinews. "Everything was like in a movie: screaming, shouting, people crying."
About 1,000 people, including rescue workers and police, were at the crash site, the AP reported, and dozens of people lined up at a local blood bank to donate blood for the injured. Video footage showed the crumpled fuselage jammed against the building. The rear of the plane was lying in a field next to the airport.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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