Turkey plane crash kills 57
Saturday, 1 December 2007
CUKUROREN, Nov 30 (Agencis): A plane operated by a budget airline crashed early Friday in mountains in southwest Turkey after apparently veering off course, killing all 57 people on board, officials said.
The fuselage and wings of the MacDonnell Douglas 83, operated by Atlasjet, were torn apart and pieces of metal and bodies, some still in their seats, were scattered across the area, Anatolia news agency reported.
"Search groups have not seen any survivors as of now," said Atlasjet Airlines CEO Tuncay Doganer. Investigating authorities have located the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, according to Turkey's civil aviation authority.
The MacDonnell Douglas, which left Istanbul for Isparta at 00.50 a.m. local time (22.50 GMT Thursday), went down in a mountainous region north of the village of Keciborlu, just as it was preparing to land at Isparta, Doganer said.
He added that the pilot had radioed the tower, saying he was starting his descent. Watch CNN report on the plane crash.
But the flight, which was carrying 49 passengers and seven crew, never arrived at Isparta airport, which is around 315 km (195 miles) southwest of Ankara, disappearing at around 2 a.m. local time.
Doganer said that conditions at the time of the crash were good. "There was no rain or wind," he said. "The weather could not have been better."
He added that the flight's pilots had just returned from training and were extremely experienced. "It is not a point of issue that the pilots were sleepless or restless."
Doganer said that rescue teams had experienced problems in reaching the crash site due to the high ground. Video shows the fuselage of the plane largely intact but broken into at least three pieces, with the tail and cockpit separated from the body of the aircraft. There appeared to be no evidence of a fire.
Weeping relatives pleaded to be allowed across the security cordon around the wreckage as forensic experts collected blood samples from mutilated body parts for DNA tests to identify the victims.
There was no immediate clue as to what caused the accident. Officials said weather conditions were fine and the pilots did not send a distress signal.
Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, who visited the crash site, said data from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR) would shed light on the accident.
Isparta Governor Semsettin Uzun said the plane crashed in an area where it was not supposed to be flying, breaking into two, while a senior aide said it slammed into a hill.
The jet disappeared from the radar around 01:36 am (2336 GMT) shortly after the pilot told the control tower he was descending to land at Isparta airport.
It had taken off from Istanbul 45 minutes earlier with the 50 passengers, two pilots, four air hostesses and a technician.
The debris was located by helicopters on a 1,830-metre (6,003-foot) hill near Cukuroren, some 12 kilometres (seven miles) from the airport, officials said.
The fuselage and wings of the MacDonnell Douglas 83, operated by Atlasjet, were torn apart and pieces of metal and bodies, some still in their seats, were scattered across the area, Anatolia news agency reported.
"Search groups have not seen any survivors as of now," said Atlasjet Airlines CEO Tuncay Doganer. Investigating authorities have located the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, according to Turkey's civil aviation authority.
The MacDonnell Douglas, which left Istanbul for Isparta at 00.50 a.m. local time (22.50 GMT Thursday), went down in a mountainous region north of the village of Keciborlu, just as it was preparing to land at Isparta, Doganer said.
He added that the pilot had radioed the tower, saying he was starting his descent. Watch CNN report on the plane crash.
But the flight, which was carrying 49 passengers and seven crew, never arrived at Isparta airport, which is around 315 km (195 miles) southwest of Ankara, disappearing at around 2 a.m. local time.
Doganer said that conditions at the time of the crash were good. "There was no rain or wind," he said. "The weather could not have been better."
He added that the flight's pilots had just returned from training and were extremely experienced. "It is not a point of issue that the pilots were sleepless or restless."
Doganer said that rescue teams had experienced problems in reaching the crash site due to the high ground. Video shows the fuselage of the plane largely intact but broken into at least three pieces, with the tail and cockpit separated from the body of the aircraft. There appeared to be no evidence of a fire.
Weeping relatives pleaded to be allowed across the security cordon around the wreckage as forensic experts collected blood samples from mutilated body parts for DNA tests to identify the victims.
There was no immediate clue as to what caused the accident. Officials said weather conditions were fine and the pilots did not send a distress signal.
Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, who visited the crash site, said data from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR) would shed light on the accident.
Isparta Governor Semsettin Uzun said the plane crashed in an area where it was not supposed to be flying, breaking into two, while a senior aide said it slammed into a hill.
The jet disappeared from the radar around 01:36 am (2336 GMT) shortly after the pilot told the control tower he was descending to land at Isparta airport.
It had taken off from Istanbul 45 minutes earlier with the 50 passengers, two pilots, four air hostesses and a technician.
The debris was located by helicopters on a 1,830-metre (6,003-foot) hill near Cukuroren, some 12 kilometres (seven miles) from the airport, officials said.