A Turkish private "Atlasjet" plane crashed in Keciborlu town of Mediterranean province of Isparta at early hours on Friday, killing 56 people aboard, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

 

"Nobody survived the crash," Atlasjet CEO Tuncay Doganer was quoted as saying in the Turkish largest city of Istanbul.

 

The plane with 49 passengers and seven crew members on board was en route from Istanbul to Isparta. It took off from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport at 12:51 a.m. (1051 GMT).

 

According to executives of Ataturk Airport, they lost communication with the Atlasjet aircraft around 1:36 a.m. (2336 GMT Thursday), when it was about to land at Isparta's Suleyman Demirel Airport.

 

"When the aircraft approached the airport to land, the tower gave permission but then lost communication with the plane," Tayyar Sasmaz, the deputy governor of Isparta, told reporters.

 

Sasmaz said the aircraft's image was lost in the radar between 1:45 and 2:00 a.m. when it was about to land at the airport.

 

Relatives of the passengers aboard the plane rushed to Ataturk Airport and Suleyman Demirel Airport immediately after the crash.

 

Meanwhile, Isparta Governor Semsettin Uzun said military planes spotted the exact place of the wreckage on 1,830-meter Turbetepe region in Keciborlu's Cukuroren village, however search and rescue teams have not reached the area.

 

Gendarmery forces and rescue teams are trying to reach the scene of the crash on foot, whereas ambulances and civil defense teams have been dispatched to Cukuroren village.

 

A Gulf Air passenger jet with 121 people on board made an emergency landing at the Ataturk Airport in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul due to technical problems on Nov. 21.

 

Also earlier this month, two Turkish pilots were killed when a military training aircraft crashed in the western city of Izmir.

 

On May 26, 2003, a Ukrainian plane carrying 75 people, including 62Spanish peacekeeping soldiers returning home from Afghanistan and 12 crew members, crashed near Macka town of northern province of Trabzon in Black Sea region of Turkey.

 

On Jan. 9, 2003, a total of 75 people were killed when a RJ-100 plane of the Turkish Airlines crashed at Diyarbakir airport in the southeastern part of Turkey, and five survived the accident.

 

On May 16, 2001, all 37 people on board were killed when a Turkish military cargo plane crashed in eastern Turkey.

 

On Dec. 29, 1994, a total of 54 people died and 22 others were wounded in the crash of a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-400 passenger plane in eastern Turkey.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2007)