Updated: Airplane crashes shortly after takeoff killing 15, dozens injured

At least 15 people died and dozens were injured on Friday when a passenger plane carrying 100 people crashed shortly after takeoff from Kazakhstan’s largest city and slammed into a house, state media reported.

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The Fokker 100 Bek Air plane disappeared from the radar minutes after it took off from Almaty airport at 7.05 am (01:05 GMT) on its way to the capital Nur-Sultan with 95 passengers and five crew members, the airport authority said in a statement.

It hit a concrete barrier and then slammed into a two-storey building. The reason for the crash, which took place near the city’s boundary northeast of the airport, was not immediately known.

A video released by the Central Asian country’s emergencies committee showed the plane split into pieces with its nose crushed into a partially collapsed house, as rescue crews worked to pull people from the wreckage.

Rescue workers could be seen reaching into the windows of the shattered cockpit, as scores of emergency staff rushed to the site.

The head of Almaty’s health service, Tleukhan Abildayev, said 14 people died at the scene while a young woman died later in hospital.

A total of 66 people were injured, of whom 50 were hospitalised, with 12 in an “extremely serious condition”, he said.