Plane crashes near Uzbek capital
Fifteen people have been killed in a plane crash near the Uzbek capital.
According to Uzbekistan’s emergency situations ministry an Uzbekistan Airways aeroplane crashed due to poor weather while trying to land near Tashkent on Thursday.
The ministry said in a statement read out on state television: “It lost control and carried out an emergency landing outside the grounds of the airport. As a result 15 people were killed – two members of the crew and 13 soldiers.”
It was not immediately clear whether anyone on board the small Antonov-2 had survived.
The crash happened near an airfield in the Urta-Chirchik district of Tashkent province while the civilian plane was carrying out a military training flight, the ministry said.
The Uzbek government has set up a commission to investigate the incident, the ministry added.
The defence and interior ministries and the prosecutor general’s office are also investigating the crash.