37 die in Uzbek plane crash, report says

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Jan 13, 2004 | An airplane crashed Tuesday in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent, killing 37 people, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing Interior Ministry officials.

Uzbek officials could not immediately be reached for confirmation,

The Interior Ministry said the plane crashed while coming in for a landing among heavy clouds, according to ITAR-Tass. President Islam Karimov went to the accident site, ITAR-Tass said.

The news agency identified the plane as an Antonov-24. Another agency, Interfax, reported it was a Yakovlev-40. The reports did not state whether the plane belonged to an airline.

Roads around Tashkent's airport were blocked and it was not immediately clear whether the crash had taken place at the airport itself or in it's vicinity, local residents said.

The An-24 is a twin-engine turboprop plane with a capacity of about 50 passengers. The Yak-40 is a small jet with a capacity of 32 passengers and three crew.

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