At Least 37 Dead After Turkish Plane Crashes Into Kyrgyz Village

At least 37 people were killed Monday when a Turkish cargo plane attempting to land crashed into a village near Kyrgyzstan’s main airport. Authorities have blamed the incident on “pilot error” and warned that the death toll may rise, Agence France-Presse reported. Residents of the Dacha Suu village, where the plane hit, said most people were still in bed sleeping when the plane fell out of the sky. “We heard a roar and (what felt) like an earthquake. Many people were sleeping, everything around was burning. One of the parts of the aircraft fell on our neighbour's house. She and her whole family died,” a pensioner identified only as Tajikan told AFP. The flight was trying to make a stop in Bishkek on its way to Istanbul from Hong Kong. ACT airlines, which was manning the plane for the flight, said in a statement that it was “deeply saddened” by the crash, the cause of which it said was still “unknown.”