A passenger jet carrying 98 people crashed into a building shortly after takeoff from Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan on Friday morning, killing at least 12 people and injuring scores more.
The crash of the Bek Air plane was the latest aviation tragedy to befall a former Soviet republic, a region plagued by a still-checkered safety record even as passenger numbers increase with the proliferation of low-cost carriers like Bek, a small Kazakh airline.
Most of the passengers survived, the Kazakh authorities said. There were conflicting reports on the total number of people on board, but the Health Ministry, in a statement, eventually fixed the numbers at 93 passengers and five crew members.