Toll in Kazakhstan plane crash revised to 12

The Kazakhstan government on Friday revised the number of people killed in a plane crash that occurred earlier in the day shortly after taking off from the Almaty airport to 12, from the initial figure of 15.

The Kazakh Interior Ministry had initially said 15 people had been killed, but it later published a list of victims that mentioned only 12 dead, including the captain, a BBC report said.

The Ministry said in a statement: "On board were five crew members and 93 passengers, among whom there are foreigners: two citizens of Ukraine, one citizen of Kyrgyzstan, one citizen of China and the rest of the citizens of Kazakhstan. Twelve people were killed, including the commander of the crew," Efe news reported

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar told the media here: "Those (victims) were mainly passengers who were in the nose (of the aircraft). A total of 12 people were killed in the accident, eight of them were killed at the scene, two people died in the hospital and two others at the Almaty airport."

According to Sklyar, 49 people were hospitalized, 18 of them are in critical condition, TASS News Agency reported.

Bek Air Flight Z2100 was en route from Almaty to the capital Nur-Sultan when it lost altitude and crashed into a concrete building at 7.22 a.m. It had 95 passengers and five crew members on board.

Skylar added that that the runway at the airport was in perfect condition during take off.

The Bek Air fleet consists of Fokker 100 planes.

Until the reasons of the crash were established, use of other aircraft of this type has been temporarily suspended, government officials said.

A governmental commission has been set up to investigate the reasons of the crash.

Meanwhile, a survivor told Efe news that he knew "we were going down" as soon as take off as the "plane began to shake very hard".

The businessman was sitting in the 15th row near an emergency exit when the plane crashed.

"As soon as the plane crashed we went out through the emergency exit on the wing. It was dark. People were lighting the area with their phones," he told Efe news, adding that the passengers in the first 14 rows took the brunt of the crash.

Following the crash, the airport said it was operating normally and the flight schedule was unaffected.

Kazakhstan's President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev has declared a day of national mourning on Friday, said the BBC report.

He expressed his "deep condolences" to relatives and said "all those responsible will be severely punished in accordance with the law".IANS