A passenger plane crashed near Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, Tuesday 1:15 p.m. local time, killing at least 20 including 5 crew members and 15 passengers, reports RT.com.
The Canadian-built Bombardier Challenger CRJ-200, which left no survivors, reportedly crashed due to bad weather conditions. This is the second fatal crash reported in Kazakhstan in less than a month.
"There was no fire, no explosion," Yuri Ilyin, deputy head of the city's emergencies department, told Reuters. "The plane just plunged to the earth."
The Challenger CRJ-200 can accommodate up to 50 passengers on board. The fog was very thick and visibility was reported at the time of crash at 20 to 30 meters. "The preliminary cause of the accident is bad weather," Deputy Almaty Mayor Maulen Mukashev told Reuters. "Not a single part of the plane was left intact after it came down."
The plane was scheduled to fly from the city of Kokshetau in northern Kazakhstan to Almaty in the southeast. The state news agency, Kazinform, reported that the plane was initially not approved to land by the airport due to poor visibility. The plane went off radar 20 minutes prior to landing schedule time, according to ABC news.
Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov ordered an investigation to be done with the airlines and expressed his grief towards the victims' families.
"On behalf of the people of Kazakhstan and myself, I express deep condolences to the bereaved families," said the statement from Akhmetov, ABC news reported.
A similar tragic air crash occurred Dec. 27, near the southern Kazakh city of Shymkent, killing 27 passengers on board. The crash was reportedly due to poor visibility, technical problems and a communication gap.
