Safety fears after Boeing from Krasnoyarsk made horror landing in heavy fog in Kyrgyzstan

By The Siberian Times reporter

23 November 2015

Several injuries among 159 passengers and crew as plane skidded off the runway, breaking a wing and damaging landing gear, at Osh airport.

The early morning 'emergency landing' led to damage of the aircraft's wing and landing gear, said local reports. Picture: bulbul.kg

A criminal case has been launched by the Bishkek authorities after the emergency evacuation of passengers by inflatable slide from an Avia Traffic airline Boeing 737 following a crash landing in fog. Reports claimed the landing had violated air traffic safety regulations.

A government source said: 'Because of the weather conditions, the crew managed to land the plane only at the second attempt. It went over the landing strip. The chassis and wing of the plane broke.'

Head doctor of Osh regional hospital, Shaiyrbek Suleimanov, said: 'Two people have been diagnosed with internal head injuries, another two suffered bruises, one passenger has a blunt abdominal injury, and a pregnant woman was hospitalised with a suspected miscarriage risk.'

The woman and unborn child were later declared healthy. Four of the injured remained in hospital. The co-pilot was among the victims. The early morning 'emergency landing' led to damage of the aircraft's wing and landing gear, said local reports.

Emergency landing in Osh

'Because of the weather conditions, the crew managed to land the plane only at the second attempt. It went over the landing strip. The chassis and wing of the plane broke.' Pictures: Ydyrys Isakov/RFE

The Boeing had flown from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on a scheduled service. Due to poor weather it had earlier landed at Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, but was given the go-ahead to fly on to Osh, despite poor conditions.

Kyrgyz government spokesperson Nazira Akhmedova told Interfax that the country's Prime Minister Temir Sariyev had held an emergency session addressing the accident at Osh airport.

The session was attended by the deputy prime ministers, the emergency situations minister, the transport minister and senior officials of the Manas International Airport, which coordinates the operations of Osh airport. There were 153 passengers, including five young children, and six crew on the stricken plane.

Avia Traffic is based in Bishkek and runs a fleet of Boeing 737-300 planes and one BAe 146-200. The airline operates flights from Bishkek to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Surgut, Kazan, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Almaty, Dushanbe, Osh, Urumqi and Mashhad (Iran). Reports say the airline is not permitted to fly to the European Union.