At least nine people were killed and 55 injured when the Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed Wednesday in a field near Amsterdam's main airport, splitting into three parts, officials said. Despite the catastrophic impact, the wreckage did not burn and dozens of people walked away with only minor injuries. Emergency services evacuated the injured to nearby hospitals — six were still in critical condition Thursday. Fred Sanders, spokesman for the Dutch Safety Authority, said the flight's data recorders and voice tapes had already been sent to Paris, where crash investigation experts have special equipment to analyze the recordings. Although both pilots died in the crash, other members of the crew, passengers and witnesses on the ground would be interviewed about what happened, he said.
The plane broken into three pieces. One break was in front of the wing, splitting the "Turkish" logo in two, and a larger break was farther back along the fuselage.
Most of the injured were seated toward the back of the plane, which sustained the most damage, a passenger on the plane told Turkish station NTV.
Many of the passengers simply walked off the plane through the cracks in the fuselage, witnesses said. A passenger on the plane who spoke to Turkish network DHA said he saw injured people trapped and squeezed between the seats when he walked out.
One survivor, Jihad Alariachi, said there was no warning from the cockpit to brace for landing before the ground loomed up through the mist and drizzle. We braked really hard, but that's normal in a landing. And then the nose went up. And then we bounced ... with the nose aloft" before the final impact, she said. witnesses on the ground said the plane dropped from about 90 meters (300 feet). Airport police spokesman Rob Stenacker said information about the passengers who died would be released at a press conference later Thursday.
Dutch authorities said Wednesday there were 72 Turks and 32 Dutch citizens on board, as well as several other nationalities. Four American Boeing employees traveling on business were aboard the plane, according to Jim Proulx, a spokesman for the company.
Families of Turkish victims arrived on a chartered flight from Istanbul late Wednesday.
Of the injured survivors, six were in critical condition, 25 were seriously hurt and 24 had slight injuries as of Thursday morning, Stenacker said.
A retired pilot who listened to a radio exchange between air traffic controllers and the aircraft shortly before the crash said he didn't hear anything unusual.
"Everything appeared normal," said Joe Mazzone, a former Delta Air Lines captain. "They were given clearance to descend to 7,000 feet."
Just before the end of the 52-second recording, the last thing heard is the controllers giving the tower frequency to the pilots and instructing them to get clearance to land, said Mazzone, who lives in Auburn, Alabama. The pilots acknowledged the instruction.
There was no way to tell from the Web recording if there was more communication between the aircraft and the officials at the airport or exactly how long the exchange came prior to the crash. Mazzone said the point where the transmission ended would likely have been 2 to 4 minutes before the plane would have normally landed.
Turkish Airlines chief Temel Kotil said the captain, Hasan Tahsin, was an experienced former air force pilot. Turkish officials said the plane was built in 2002 and last underwent thorough maintenance on Dec. 22.
Turkish Airlines has had several serious crashes since 1974, when 360 people died in the crash of a DC-10 near Paris after a cargo door came off. More recently, in 2003, 75 died when an RJ-100 missed the runway in heavy fog in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir.
Dutch authorities said Wednesday there were 72 Turks and 32 Dutch citizens on board, as well as several other nationalities. Four American Boeing employees traveling on business were aboard the plane, according to Jim Proulx, a spokesman for the company.
Families of Turkish victims arrived on a chartered flight from Istanbul late Wednesday.
Of the injured survivors, six were in critical condition, 25 were seriously hurt and 24 had slight injuries as of Thursday morning, Stenacker said.
A retired pilot who listened to a radio exchange between air traffic controllers and the aircraft shortly before the crash said he didn't hear anything unusual.
"Everything appeared normal," said Joe Mazzone, a former Delta Air Lines captain. "They were given clearance to descend to 7,000 feet."
Just before the end of the 52-second recording, the last thing heard is the controllers giving the tower frequency to the pilots and instructing them to get clearance to land, said Mazzone, who lives in Auburn, Alabama. The pilots acknowledged the instruction.
There was no way to tell from the Web recording if there was more communication between the aircraft and the officials at the airport or exactly how long the exchange came prior to the crash. Mazzone said the point where the transmission ended would likely have been 2 to 4 minutes before the plane would have normally landed.
Turkish Airlines chief Temel Kotil said the captain, Hasan Tahsin, was an experienced former air force pilot. Turkish officials said the plane was built in 2002 and last underwent thorough maintenance on Dec. 22.
Turkish Airlines has had several serious crashes since 1974, when 360 people died in the crash of a DC-10 near Paris after a cargo door came off. More recently, in 2003, 75 died when an RJ-100 missed the runway in heavy fog in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir.
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