A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including two Canadians, crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday near the Kyrgyz capital, killing 65, government officials said.
The Boeing 737 was headed to Iran when it crashed near Bishkek's Manas International Airport, said government spokeswoman Roza Daudova. Twenty-two people, including two crew members, survived.
Earlier, Daudova had said there were at least 68 dead and 25 survivors but she later gave lower figures.
Daudova said the people on board the plane included 24 Kyrgyz citizens, 52 Iranians, three Kazakhs, two Canadians, one citizen of Turkey and one Chinese.
The Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa issued a news release saying the department was aware of news reports about the crash and consular officials were in contact with local authorities in an attempt to confirm if any Canadian citizens were among the passengers.
An airport official said the crew reported a technical problem about 10 minutes into the flight and the plane was returning to the airport when it crashed. The official said she was not authorized to give her name.
Officials said the crash followed the sudden decompression of the jet, which came down in a field near a village.
Among the survivors, were seven out of 17 members of a basketball team from a school in the capital Bishkek, said Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova. Presidential adviser Tokon Mamytov, however, later said the athletes were volleyball, not basketball players.
Eighteen survivors were in hospital and four others were sent home with no serious injuries, Daudova said.
Kyrgyz Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev said the plane went down 10 kilometres from the airport.
Maj. Damian Pickart, public affairs officer for the U.S. air base located at the Manas airport, said U.S. ambulances and firefighting equipment were dispatched to the crash site in response to a Kyrgyz request for help.
Several government officials said the plane belonged to Itek Air, a Kyrgyz company but was operated by Iran Aseman Airlines. But Mamytov, the presidential adviser, said the plane was both owned and operated by Itek Air.
Itek Air has been banned from operating in the airspace of the European Union because of failure to meet safety and aviation standards, said a list published by the EU July 24.
Kyrgyzstan is a poor, mountainous country west of China. The U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan supports operations in nearby Afghanistan.
Bishkek has a population about one million and is situated in the northern part of the Central Asian country.
Manas International Airport is about 25 kilometres northwest of downtown.
