A Turkish cargo jet crashed into a village near Kyrgizstan's Manas International Airport on Monday, killing at least 37 people, most of them residents of the village. According to the airport administration, the Boeing 747 was supposed to make a stopover at the airport, outside the capital city Bishkek, on its way from Hong Kong to Istanbul. It crashed when trying to land in dense fog and poor visibility at 7:31 a.m. The plane damaged 15 buildings in the village, said Mukhammed Svarov, head of the crisis management center at the Emergencies Ministry. Kyrgyzstan's Transport Ministry said there were five people on board. It identified the plane as a Turkish Airlines Boeing 747-400, but the company said it belonged to another Turkish firm, ACT Airlines. "Our TC-MCL signed plane, flying on Jan. 16 from Hong Kong to Bishkek, crashed on landing at Bishkek at the end of the runway for an unknown reason," ACT Airlines said in an emailed statement. "Our condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in the tragic incident involving an ACT Airlines aircraft in Kyrgyzstan," Turkish Airlines said on its Twitter account.
