Building hit by Fokker 100 in Almaty erected illegally - Kazakh deputy PM
NUR-SULTAN. Jan 10 (Interfax) - The administration of the Talgat district in Kazakhstan's Almaty region had no right to allow construction of a residential building near Almaty Airport, where a Bek Air flight crashed, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar said at a press conference in Nur-Sultan on Friday.
"The anti-corruption service of the Almaty region is holding a preliminary inquiry into the illegal issuance of land permits in the Talgat district in the vicinity of Almaty Airport," Sklyar said.
"It has been established that members of the Talgat district administration abused their office in 2015-2019 and illegally allotted land within the airport's exclusion area for private construction purposes, including construction of homes," he said.
The Fokker 100 Bek Air plane, en route from Almaty to Nur-Sultan, lost altitude and crashed into a residential area hitting a concrete structure and a two-storey building on December 27.
Twelve people, including the plane's captain, were killed and 67 people were injured in the crash, of whom 49 were hospitalized. There were 93 passengers and five crewmembers aboard the plane.
The Kazakh Interior Ministry is conducting a pre-trial investigation into the crash based on the article of the Kazakh Criminal Code dealing with violations of safety regulations in the operation of a transport vehicle.
Prime Minister Askar Mamin said earlier that the government commission investigating the crash should sum up the results of its work by January 10.