- Title: NETHERLANDS: Nine passengers confirmed dead in Amsterdam plane crash
- Date: 23rd February 2009
- Summary: SCHIPOL AIRPORT, NEAR AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (FEBRUARY 25, 2009) (REUTERS) OFFICIALS AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS CHIEF OF POLICE, BOB VISSER, TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF POLICE, BOB VISSER, SAYING: "We have nine confirmed dead at this moment, six people who are critically injured, 25 who are seriously injured and 31 who have minor injuries." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF POLICE, BOB VISSER, SAYING: "We know that the bigger part of the passengers were Turkish and Dutch, and we have a number of passengers who are other nationalities, but I cannot be specific about that. " CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF POLICE, BOB VISSER, SAYING: "We have to be very careful with the names. The forensic team has started, but we only give names when we are 100 percent sure about identities, so that will perhaps be tomorrow, and the technical, the forensic investigation will probably take longer." CAMERAMAN JOURNALISTS
- Embargoed: 10th March 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Netherlands
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA3UCV6M1HRTXKWOS9ZJX1DKZX9
- Story Text: Nine passengers confirmed dead in Amsterdam plane crash, nationalities and cause still uncertain.
A Turkish Airlines plane with 134 passengers and crew aboard crashed in light fog while trying to land at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday (February 25), killing nine people and injuring dozens.
Officials said some 84 people were taken to hospitals, including 25 who were severely hurt, when flight TK 1951 from Istanbul crashed into a field short of a runway at Schiphol, Europe's fifth-largest airport by passenger volume.
"We have nine confirmed dead at this moment, six people who are critically injured, 25 who are seriously injured and 31 who have minor injuries," Chief of police, Bob Visser said, adding that they cannot say anything about the cause at the moment.
Earlier, Dutch officials said 135 people were on board the plane, but that was revised to 134.
At least four Americans, who work for the plane's manufacturer Boeing, were on the plane, an official said. But Visser said they can't confirm any other nationalities apart Turkish and Dutch.
"We know that the bigger part of the passengers were Turkish and Dutch, and we have a number of passengers who are other nationalities, but I cannot be specific about that."
The plane is now empty of the victims, Visser added, and has been handed over to the forensic team.
"We have to be very careful with the names. The forensic team has started, but we only give names when we are 100 percent sure about identities, so that will perhaps be tomorrow, and the technical, the forensic investigation will probably take longer," Visser said.
Officials said they had found the plane's flight data recorder and that it would be analysed.
The plane broke up when it collided with the ground north of a runway at Schiphol, which is 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Amsterdam's centre.
Survivors were rushed to hospitals in Amsterdam as well as nearby Haarlem and other cities.
A flight from Istanbul carrying relatives of crash victims was to land later on Wednesday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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