PARIS — A Turkish Airlines jet carrying 134 people crashed into a field on its approach to Schiphol Airport outside Amsterdam on Wednesday. The airline said all passengers and crew had survived but at least 20 people were injured.
Television pictures showed the aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, lying fractured into three parts after it slammed into the grass about 3 miles from the runway. The aircraft did not catch fire.
Initial reports said that one person died in the wreckage. But The Associated Press quoted Turkish Airlines as saying that there were no deaths among the 127 passengers and seven crew on the plane, Turkish Airlines flight TK1951, that left Istanbul at 8:22 a.m. on Wednesday.
Temel Kotil, the chief executive of the airline, said at a news conference in Istanbul that 20 people were injured in the accident.
The crash took place in calm weather with a light drizzle. Unlike a deadly accident in Madrid last summer when a Spanair flight crashed while taking off, no fire broke out during Wednesday’s crash.
The Turkish aircraft would have been low on fuel as it approached its destination.
Rescue operations were continuing at the crash site and 80 passengers had been evacuated from the plane, Binali Yildirim, the Turkish transportation minister, said on NTV, a private television station in Turkey.
“The plane has been through all required security controls,” Mr. Yildirim said.
Tuncer Mutlucan, a passenger who survived the crash, told NTV, “It was the back of the plane that hit the ground. We left the plane from the back. My colleague and I saw people stuck in between seats as we were trying to leave and we tried to help them.”
“ It all happened in something like ten seconds,” Mr. Mutlucan said.
Turkish Airlines officials said that there were 20 injured but no dead. Dutch authorities had earlier reported one fatality.
Candan Karlitekin, the chairman of Turkish Airlines, said most of the 20 injured were seated at the back of the plane. “There was nothing extraordinary about the weather conditions, vision capability was 4,500 meters. Around 500 meters away from the landing strip, the plane landed in a field. The plane was broken into three parts, as you all saw in pictures. There is no damage in the front, but injuries happened in the back of the plane. There has not been any confirmed death, which we are pleased about.”
Mr. Kotil said that the pilot, Hasan Tahsin Ari, was one of the airline’s most experienced pilots. The company was planning a flight from to Amsterdam from Istanbul for relatives of the crash victims.
Caroline Brothers reported from Paris, and Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul.
Television pictures showed the aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, lying fractured into three parts after it slammed into the grass about 3 miles from the runway. The aircraft did not catch fire.
Initial reports said that one person died in the wreckage. But The Associated Press quoted Turkish Airlines as saying that there were no deaths among the 127 passengers and seven crew on the plane, Turkish Airlines flight TK1951, that left Istanbul at 8:22 a.m. on Wednesday.
Temel Kotil, the chief executive of the airline, said at a news conference in Istanbul that 20 people were injured in the accident.
The crash took place in calm weather with a light drizzle. Unlike a deadly accident in Madrid last summer when a Spanair flight crashed while taking off, no fire broke out during Wednesday’s crash.
The Turkish aircraft would have been low on fuel as it approached its destination.
Rescue operations were continuing at the crash site and 80 passengers had been evacuated from the plane, Binali Yildirim, the Turkish transportation minister, said on NTV, a private television station in Turkey.
“The plane has been through all required security controls,” Mr. Yildirim said.
Tuncer Mutlucan, a passenger who survived the crash, told NTV, “It was the back of the plane that hit the ground. We left the plane from the back. My colleague and I saw people stuck in between seats as we were trying to leave and we tried to help them.”
“ It all happened in something like ten seconds,” Mr. Mutlucan said.
Turkish Airlines officials said that there were 20 injured but no dead. Dutch authorities had earlier reported one fatality.
Candan Karlitekin, the chairman of Turkish Airlines, said most of the 20 injured were seated at the back of the plane. “There was nothing extraordinary about the weather conditions, vision capability was 4,500 meters. Around 500 meters away from the landing strip, the plane landed in a field. The plane was broken into three parts, as you all saw in pictures. There is no damage in the front, but injuries happened in the back of the plane. There has not been any confirmed death, which we are pleased about.”
Mr. Kotil said that the pilot, Hasan Tahsin Ari, was one of the airline’s most experienced pilots. The company was planning a flight from to Amsterdam from Istanbul for relatives of the crash victims.
Caroline Brothers reported from Paris, and Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul.
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