The New York Times is reporting that a Turkish Airlines jet, a Boeing 737-800 carrying 135 people, crashed into a field on its approach to Schiphol Airport outside Amsterdam after a flight from Istanbul on Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring 50.
In Ankara, Suat Hayri Aka, a senior transportation official, told a news conference that 20 of the injured appeared to be in serious condition. Three of the dead were crew members, according to Turkish news reports. Witnesses said the plane’s engines broke off and landed some about 100 yards from the wrecked fuselage in a plowed field.
In a statement, the Amsterdam airport authorities said the plane, Turkish Airlines flight TK1951, which left Istanbul at 8:22 a.m. on Wednesday, made a crash landing along a highway near the airport with 128 passengers and 7 crew members on board.
Flights to and from the airport, halted because of the accident, were gradually being resumed, the airport said.
The International Air Transport Association representing 230 scheduled airlines, said last week that the number of fatal air crashes increased to 23 in 2008 from 20 the year before. However, fatalities decreased to 502 from 692 in 2007.
Check out this YouTube clip of the event below.