Baby pulled from wreckage of deadly plane crash in Kazakhstan

At least 12 people killed and 54 injured in disaster as aircraft hit building

A baby has been pulled from the wreckage of an aircraft that crashed into a building in Kazakhstan, killing at least 12 people.

Footage of rescuers hunting for survivors shows an official running across the snow towards an ambulance while carrying the infant.

It was not clear whether the baby was alive, but at least 54 people were taken to hospital with injuries, some of them critical.

The Bek Air Fokker 100 carrying 93 passengers and five crew crashed shortly after takeoff at 07.22 local time [01.22 GMT] near the city of Almaty.

Images of the scene showed the front of the fuselage rammed into a house and the rear of the plane lying in a field next to the airport.

The aircraft had hit a concrete fence just beyond the runway and collided with the building, thought to be a house, a spokesperson for Almaty International Airport said.

The aircraft’s tail also struck the runway twice during take-off, indicating that it struggled to get off the ground, said deputy prime minister Roman Sklyar.

One survivor said the plane started shaking less than two minutes after take-off.

“At first, the left wing jolted really hard, then the right. The plane continued to gain altitude, shaking quite severely, and then went down,” businessman Aslan Nazaraliyev told Sky News.

Government officials said the jet, which had been en route to Nur-Sultan, the capital formerly known as Astana, underwent de-icing before the flight.

But Mr Nazaraliyev said its wings were covered in ice, and passengers who used emergency exits over the wings slipped and fell.

Local authorities had earlier put the death toll at 15, but the interior ministry later revised the figure downwards. Dozens more in Almaty lined up at a local blood bank to donate for the injured.

Almaty International Airport said about 1,000 people were working on the rescue operation.

Kazakh president Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev declared a national day of mourning, and the government promised to pay families of the dead around $10,000 (£7,640) each.

Additional reporting by agencies