Nine people were killed and more than 50 were injured in Wednesday morning’s crash of a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 plane near Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, Dutch authorities said.
The figure was given at a press conference at the airport, ending a morning of conflicting accounts about whether there had been any fatalities when the plane, with 135 persons on board, crashed while making its final approach to the airport.
Melanie Smieder of the airport’s press service said earlier: ”It’s a Turkish Airlines plane that crashed as it was approaching the runway. All air traffic is blocked.”
”The fire services and ambulances are on site,” airport spokesperson Mirjam Snoerwang told Dutch telelvision.
The aircraft had broken into two or three pieces, said media reports from the airport.
Some passengers were seen leaving the plane, Turkey’s Anatolia news agency reported. — Sapa-AFP