Uzbek Plane Crash Kills U.N. Envoy, 36 Others

A domestic airliner crashed Tuesday on approach to the airport here in Uzbekistan’s capital, killing all 37 people aboard, including the top United Nations official for the country, state authorities said.

A statement issued by the state UzA news agency said the Uzbekistan Airways Yakovlev-40 was carrying 32 passengers and five crew members. The plane was en route from Termez, on the Central Asian nation’s border with Afghanistan.

Richard Conroy, the senior United Nations official for Uzbekistan, was aboard the flight, U.N. Development Program spokesman Bill Orme said. A dual Australian and British citizen, Conroy had worked in Uzbekistan since 2001.

Termez became a major hub for humanitarian aid efforts for northern Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, and aid workers and other foreigners commonly fly between that city and Tashkent. German troops also have been using the Termez airport as a support base for peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov met rescue workers at the site. Officials gave no indication of what might have caused the crash. At least one news report said foul play had been ruled out.

Residents said thick fog covered the airport at the time of the accident.

The crash area was sealed to the public, but one airport worker said the plane appeared to have hit a stanchion of approach lights and flipped over, hitting a wall surrounding the landing area.

The area adjacent to the landing field is a mixture of industrial buildings and open spaces.

It was not clear whether any buildings were damaged by the crash.

Several hours after the accident, the airport announced that it was closed because of bad weather and that arriving flights were being diverted to Samarkand, about 200 miles to the southwest.