TURKEY:A Turkish domestic aircraft crashed in the mountains in southwest Turkey yesterday, killing all 57 people on board, officials said.
Private AtlasJet Airlines chief executive Tuncay Doganer said the cause of the crash was not clear as weather conditions were normal and the aircraft had no known technical problems.
Officials said all on board were Turkish.
The 165-seat MD 83 aircraft, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, crashed in the early hours of yesterday before it was due to land in the city of Isparta. It had been flying from Istanbul with 49 passengers and seven crew.
The aircraft crashed outside Keciborlu, a town 12km (7.5 miles) from Isparta's Suleyman Demirel airport. The death toll, previously reported as 56, rose to 57 as a baby on the aircraft had not been counted. Turkish Pilots Association chairman Tuna Gurel told a news conference that it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.
Fifty-three of the bodies have been recovered.
Media reports said emergency workers had retrieved the aircraft's black boxes, or data recorders, which were expected to shed light on the cause of the crash. Turkey is in the grip of winter with snow and fog common on higher ground in much of the country.
"No matter what measures you take, plane accidents happen and we see that 80 to 85 per cent are due to human error," said transport minister Binali Yildirim, adding that regular inspections had been carried out on the leased aircraft.
Rescue workers reached the mountainous crash site after military helicopters spotted the wreckage of the aircraft.
Sahin Kartal, who lost his nephew and sister-in-law, later reached the cordoned-off site in the forested mountain. "The authorities made us wait for news until this hour," Mr Kartal said. "They told us that the plane took off and then landed, but we didn't know it landed like this."
A reporter from state-run Anatolian news agency, who arrived aboard a military helicopter, said she saw bodies strewn around the crash area, with personal belongings and luggage scattered on the hillside along with aircraft debris.
Some dead passengers were still strapped to their seats.
Some 300 soldiers later sealed off the crash site to keep people away as a forensic team collected blood samples from the victims for DNA identification. Authorities used heavy machinery to clear trees from the hilly area.
Ambulances arrived and rescue workers began removing the bodies, which were to be taken to local hospitals.
Turkish television showed a large section of the aircraft, with emergency exits open, intact on the side of a forested mountain. It appeared the front and back of the aircraft were smashed.