A plane crashed with 103 persons including 98 passengers on board causing death of at least 14, according to current reports. The incident took place when a Bek Air plane crashed into a building shortly after taking off from Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan on Friday.
There were 98 passengers and five crew members on board. Six children were among the dead, a spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry, Nursultan Nurakhmetov, said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Mr. Nurakhmetov said, the plane, a Fokker 100, bound for Nur-Sultan, the Kazakh capital, lost altitude and crashed into a two-story building, officials said at 7:22 am local time. The crash took place in a residential area near the airport.
The Footage which has emerged show rescuers working at the scene. In it, a woman can be heard calling for an ambulance and the cockpit of the plane is seen wedged into the side of the building.
A special commission will be set up to determine the cause of crash.
On Twitter, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan expressed his condolences to the victims & their families stating that a government commission headed by the country’s prime minister, Askar Mamin, would investigate the crash and its causes including any foul play.
All the guilty will be punished severely in accordance with the law,” Mr. Tokayev said. The plane measures about 39 yards long, and has a passenger capacity of 109.
Fokker100 was manufactured in Netherlands. It is only after its Dutch maker went into bankruptcy in 1996 that its production ceased. Though many airlines have retired the aircraft, more than 100 are still active, mostly in Australia and Iran.
Aviation accidents are caused by either the technical failures or use of outdated aviation machinery for flying (which rarely is the cause as it involves higher risk and can only rarely be a deliberate step) .
A pilot and researcher are aware regarding sensors equipping the planes and that onboard computers can use the data to detect equipment failure and inform the pilots what’s a real emergency and what’s not.
These fatal aviation accidents can be avoided when full precautions are taken. The machine cannot be trusted until tested immediately before taking off. Its important that the crew members train the passengers well in case of emergency and its the duty of passengers to listen carefully and follow the instructions in wake of such mishaps.
It also not a hidden fact that privatisation of aviation department has lead to more crashes. The folly of allowing runways to co-exist with commercial projects, or integrating traditional airplane operations with the ongoing commercial development are major negligences with respect to safety. Air traffic has expanded significantly too.
All this activity reinforces the public danger from the incompatibility of air and commercial land uses under privatized governance arrangements. There has been an increasing alignment with the private industries to further help the private interests of airport operators at increasing risk to the public.
The aviation department should solely focus on improvements in the safety structures of operations and all the other developmental and privatization factors should remain secondary for ensuring safety and avoiding crashes at its best.
