At least 15 dead, dozens injured in Kazakhstan passenger airline crash

A Kazakhstan airliner with 93 passengers and five crew members on board crashed after takeoff in Almaty early Friday, killing at least 15 people and hospitalizing at least 50 others, according to local officials. The Bek Air flight was headed from Almaty to the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, when it hit a concrete fence and a two-story building, splitting the Fokker-100 twin-jet aircraft in two.

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The cause of the crash is under investigation, and Kazakhstan officials said they have temporarily grounded all Bek Air and Fokker-100 flights in the Central Asian country. A Reuters reporter who traveled to Almaty International Airport soon after the crash said there was thick fog in the area, but The Associated Press reports that "the weather in Almaty was clear, with mild sub-zero temperature that is common at this time of the year."

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A survivor told Tengrinews she heard a "terrifying sound" before the plane started losing altitude Friday morning. "The plane was flying with a tilt. Everything was like in a movie: screaming, shouting, people crying." The last Fokker-100 was manufactured in 1997, a year after the aircraft maker went bankrupt.