Deadly Turkish plane crash probed

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Posted by Snehsan

Investigations are continuing into what caused a Turkish Airlines plane to crash at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, killing nine people and injuring 84.

The plane, en route from Istanbul with 127 passengers and seven crew, crashed short of the runway on Wednesday. Three of those killed were members of the crew. Dutch officials said most of the passengers on board were Turkish.
Relatives of some of those killed have arrived in Amsterdam on a special Turkish Airlines flight from Turkey. Officials told reporters on Wednesday that they did not yet know what had caused the plane to crash on landing. The flight data and voice recorders from the aircraft have been found and are being sent for expert analysis. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft came down at 1031 local time (0931 GMT), several hundred yards (metres) short of the runway, about three hours after it left Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

It broke into three pieces on impact but most of those on board survived, although many were hurt.
In a news conference on Wednesday, a Dutch health official said six of those injured were in a critical condition. She said another 25 passengers were severely wounded and 24 more had suffered light injuries. They were being treated at 11 hospitals in the area.

The Turkish transport ministry said the flight carried 78 Turkish nationals and 56 people of other nationalities. Candan Karlitekin, head of Turkish Airlines' board of directors, told reporters in Turkey that records showed the plane had been properly maintained. Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said it had been "a miracle" that there were not more casualties, AP reports.

"The fact that the plane landed on a soft surface and that there was no fire helped keep the number of fatalities low," he said. 'Suddenly descended' One passenger aboard the plane, Kerem Uzel, told Turkish news channel NTV that the plane's landing had been announced when they were at an altitude of 600m (2,000ft).

"We suddenly descended a great distance as if the plane fell into turbulence. The plane's tail hit the ground... It slid from the side of the motorway into the field."

Witnesses on the ground described seeing the plane appear to glide through the air, having lost all propulsion, before hitting the ground and breaking into three pieces. Some passengers were able to begin climbing out of the plane before rescue workers arrived on the scene. All flights were suspended for a time, but the airport re-opened later in the day. The last crash involving a Turkish Airlines plane was in 2003, when at least 65 people died in an accident in eastern Turkey. Schiphol airport has six runways and one major passenger terminal. In 2007, it handled 47 million passengers, ranking fifth in Europe.