Turkish airliner carrying 56 people crashed near the town of Isparta
30 November, 2007
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| The aircraft, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, had been flying from Istanbul and disappeared from radar screens shortly before it was due to land at |
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ANKARA - A Turkish airliner carrying 56 people crashed near the town of Isparta in central Turkey on Friday but the fate of those on board was not immediately known, officials said.
Rescuer are trying to reach the mountainous spot where military helicopters had identified the wreckage of the airliner, operated by the private AtlasJet company. It was not immediately clear what had caused the crash.
Turkey is now in the grip of winter with snow and fog common on higher ground across much of the country.
‘Rescue teams have not yet been able to reach the wreckage,’ the state Anatolian news agency quoted Isparta province’s governor, Semsettin Uzun, as saying.
AtlasJet chief executive Tuncay Doganer earlier told the CNN Turk broadcaster there were 49 passengers and seven crew on board.
Turkish television showed anxious relatives arriving at Istanbul airport seeking news about the passengers.
The aircraft, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, had been flying from Istanbul and disappeared from radar screens shortly before it was due to land at Isparta, about 150 km (90 miles) north of the Mediterranean resort of Antalya.
Anatolian said aviation authorities lost contact with the plane early on Friday (2336 GMT on Thursday), just after the pilot said he was preparing to land at Isparta’s Suleyman Demirel airport.
‘As the plane was approaching its descent, it sought permission to land and after receiving a positive reply from the tower contact was lost,’ the agency quoted local.
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