Amsterdam plane crash

AT least nine people died when a Turkish airliner crashed and broke up on the approach to Amsterdam airport today.But scores more of the 145 crew and passengers on board escaped unhurt.Earlier reports said no-one had died. However a local mayor and the airport's director later confirmed there were nine victims.Another 50 were injured, many seriously, after the Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 from Istanbul came down in a field just short of the runway at Schiphol.

A statement from the Dutch government said: "Our thoughts go out to the people who were in the plane and of course also to those who are now waiting in uncertainty to hear about the fate of their loved ones."A spokesman for the Amsterdam Medical Centre said the hospital was treating seven injured passengers. "Three are lightly injured and four are serious or very serious," he said.The injured were taken to nearby hospitals and other survivors to a sports hall to be reunited with relatives.A spokesman for the Dutch Anti-Terror Co-ordinator's office, said terrorism did not appear to be a factor.