American basketball players Samuel Perkins and Rebecca Bonner will visit Kyrgyzstan on August 21-24, 2008 Kyrgyzstan to participate in a series of sport events.
http://bishkek.usembassy.gov/
MOSCOW - Sixty-five people were killed Sunday in the crash of a Boeing 737 near the airport of Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, announced a spokesman for the Ministry of Health kirghiz revising downwards the previous balance of 71 dead.
OMG I hope they are okay I hear about that this morning Hal
American basketball players Samuel Perkins and Rebecca Bonner will visit Kyrgyzstan on August 21-24, 2008 Kyrgyzstan to participate in a series of sport events.
Their visit is possible with support of the State Department’s International Sport Programming Initiative and U.S. Embassy Bishkek. During the visit the American Sport Envoys will meet and play basketball with young Kyrgyzstanis in Bishkek, Kant, and Kochkor.
While providing an opportunity for the youth to engage in a dialogue with American players, these events allow young people to discover how success in sports can be a bridge to the development of life skills emphasizing the values of teamwork, respect, and leadership.
Sam Perkins, the ‘Big Smooth’?!?!
Goodness, hope their fine.
Would that be former North Carolina Tarheel and retired NBA star, Sam Perkins?
by Tolkun Namatbayeva 1 hour, 10 minutes ago
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AFP) - A passenger plane bound for Iran crashed shortly after take-off from the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek on Sunday, claiming the lives of 65 people onboard, the health ministry said.
The Boeing-737 with 90 people onboard went down a few kilometres (miles) from Bishkek's Manas airport when the plane suffered a dramatic loss of cabin pressure, said Prime Minister Igor Chudinov.
"Sixty-five passengers were killed, 22 injured and three are missing," health ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova told AFP. She had earlier given a toll of 71 dead. The plane was owned by Itek Air, a private Kyrgyz company, that is on the European Union blacklist of airlines banned from flying in EU airspace.
Chudinov said all seven crew members were among the survivors of the crash, the worst in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan since the Central Asian state gained independence.
"The plane took off and then it lost pressure," Chudinov told reporters. It was bound for Tehran, according to airport officials.
The pilot made an emergency landing in a field not far from the runway and the plane caught fire, he said.
Civil aviation officials said it went down at around 8:40 pm (1440 GMT), just 10 minutes after take-off.
Kyrgyz reporters on the scene said body parts were strewn across a large area surrounding the plane wreckage.
There were 51 foreigners among the passengers, including Iranian, Turkish, Chinese and Canadian nationals, according to the prime minister.
It was the worst plane crash in recent history in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic that also boasts Central's Asia biggest and most modern airport.
Rescue teams and firefighters were dispatched to the crash site near the village of Dzhany-Dzher where the plane was engulfed in flames, officials said.
US military officials at a nearby base sent firefighters and medical staff to the scene, said Aygul Karemshakova, a press spokeswoman for the US base in Kyrgyzstan.
The prime minister said the plane had no known safety problems.
"The Boeing was produced in 1979, was in good condition, was checked a month ago and had an extended warranty," he said.
Iran's ambassador to Kyrgyzstan visited the injured at Bishkek hospitals as rescuers continued a frantic search for survivors under the cover of darkness.
"Mostly the passengers have combined injuries -- burns, broken bones and bumps," a doctor at Bishkek hospital said.
There were reports that the plane was owned by the Iranian company Aseman and leased to Itek Air, but a spokesman for the national aviation agency in Tehran denied the information.
"The plane belongs to Kyrgyz airlines," said Reza Jafarzadeh, spokesman for the agency, the official Irna news agency reported.
A Spanair flight bound for the Canary Islands crashed in Madrid on August 21, killing 154 people.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080824/ts_afp/kyrgyzstanairaccidentiran_080824202332
Prayers up for everyone.
ping
Prayers.
Interfax.com - Plane that crashed in Kyrgyzstan was carrying volleyball, not basketballteam - official
The names of the basketball players do NOT appear in the passenger list, so hopefully, the Interfax report was incorrect and the U.S. basketball players are okay -
http://kg.akipress.org/news/60731
The list of passengers and crew of flight 6895 Tehran-Bishkek
25-08-2008
03:31
BISHKEK (CNA press) - Became known list of people who were injured in the crash “Boeing-737”. A list provided by the press service of the Border Service of Kyrgyzstan.
According to preliminary data, flight 6895 Tehran-Bishkek followed by passengers following:
1. Niyazi Teimour - Iranian citizen,
. 2 Cory Shamsaldin - Iran;
. 3 Sultanaliev Almaz - KR;
4. Niyazi Salim - Iran;
5. Rasoulov Mohsen - Iran;
6. Katebi Yasef - Iran;
7. Sahin Mahmed - citizen of Turkey;
8. Saparbaeva Ayday - KR;
9. Sakimbaeva Nurzat - KR;
10. Syed Alireza Hosseini - Iran;
11. Turdueva Nurzada - KR;
12. Benzadi Alireza - Iran;
13. Syrdybaeva Gulnur - KR;
14. Hosseini Sayed - Iran;
15. Zhamshidiyan Neshad Abbas - Iran;
16. Rosie Talab Zadeh Hoshen - Iran;
17. Parsakiya Karim - Iran;
18. Agha Ahmadi Gholam Hoseyin - Iran;
19. Habib Nezhad Aref - Iran;
20. Ershat Saeid - Iran;
21. Aghili Malek - Iran;
22. Valizadeh Reza - Iran;
23. Valeh Ibrahim - Iran;
24. Dehghaniyam Ghasem - Iran;
25. Bahr Bahram - Iran;
26. Ali Zare - Iran;
27. Ibraimov Bilgis - KR;
28. Mirza Mahmoud - Iran;
29. Zhatan Eysar - Iran;
30. Abdrashitov Abdrashin - KR;
31. Ikshanov Rina - KR;
32. Nasrollahi Pooyan - Iran;
33. Beyshenkulov Elnur - KR;
34. Rayhan Mamaghani Pouneh-Iran;
35. Ahangari Nasreen - Iran;
36. Rayhan Mamaghani Muhammad - Iran;
37. Zhalaer Gitti - Iran;
38. Melaka Mohammad Reza - Iran;
39. Magdy Esmaeyl - Iran;
40. Chynybaev Bilal - KR;
41. Gholami Jalal - Iran;
42. Makarchuk Ivan - KR;
43. Mushekenov Mukhtar - Kazakhstan;
Eugenia Choi 44 - Kazakhstan;
45 Esaeva Gauhar - Kazakhstan;
46 Sabyrzhan Kadyrov - the CD (survived);
47 Kubatov Nazar - KR;
48. Rezapoursarabi Majid - Iran;
49. Hasanbaev Zhurabay - CD (survived);
50. Adiev Bayysh - CD (survived);
51. Adiev Zhanysh - CD (survived);
52. Kozhomkulov Emil;
53. Bakhtiyar Kadyrov - the CD (survived);
54. Baybulatov Murat - KR;
55. Kasymaliev Esenzhan - CD (survived);
56. Ma Hyuyking - PRC;
57. Arianfar Asadulla - Iran;
58. Kasymbek Talantbek - KR;
59. Movaghati Moghadam Mehrdad - Iran;
60. Huseyinov Adilet - KR;
61. Pishrov Abdullah - Iran;
62. Suleymanifar Mohsen - Iran (survived);
63. Nasiri Amir Nezhad - Iran (survived);
64. Kompaniha Mohsen - Iran (survived);
65. Arif C ikaroudi Zahra - Iran (survived);
66. Zakerikhalalaf Badam Mohamad Mehdi - Iran;
67. Aref Narzhes - Iran (survived);
68. Montaziri Reza Taleghani - Iran (survived);
69. Hazem Ali Langrodi - Iran (survived);
70. Mohammad Zakeri Hoseyin - Iran (survived);
71. Sadeghiyan Mohammadreza - Iran;
72. Kutilov Oleg - KR;
73. Romazani Ahmad - Iran;
74. Zant Lotfali - Iran;
75. Abdi Mahdi - Iran;
76. Beyki Ali - Iran;
77. Mousavi Mohammadali - Iran;
78. Mohammad Hossein Yawer - Iran;
79. Khabiri Huseyin - Iran (survived);
80. Kiumarsi Parfiz - Iran;
81. Kim Mihayil - KR;
82. Sarihi Farhad - Iran;
83. Mohammaadi Babak - Canada;
Crew members:
84. Yury Goncharov - Captain liner - KR;
85. Vodolagin Timothy - the second pilot - CD (survived);
86. Kugusheva Elena - hostess - CD (survived);
87. Asyaeva Oksana - hostess - CD (survived);
88. Ryazanov Tatiana - hostess - CD (survived);
89. Sergey Belyaev - flight engineer - CD (survived);
90. Zarrabi Darban Ehsan - Manager - Iran (survived);