Turkey's transportation minister said on Thursday that Turkish officials did not deliver any contradictory statements regarding yesterday's plane crash at Amsterdam's main airport.

The Turkish Airlines plane with flight number 1951 crashed while attempting to land at the Schiphol Airport on Wednesday, klling 9 people and wounding many others.

Commenting on the accident, Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said that he was deeply saddened with the statements delivered by various parties in an effort to overshadow the success of THY and Turkish civil aviation.

Upon a question on whether the identities of the victims of the plane crash would be announced, Yildirim said procedures on that issue were being carried out in accordance with the internal legislation of the Netherlands.

"Dutch officials explained the procedure to us. Therefore, we have to respect their legislation and laws," he said.

Yildirim also said that the number of casualties did not increase as the plane crashed into a muddy and soft field and there had not been a fire at the scene.

"Whatever the reason of the crash is or whoever is responsible for it, I would like to mention the names of our pilots with great respect as they have displayed extraordinary efforts at the cost of their own lives in order to minimize the loss in such an accident," he said.

Yildirim said there was no contradiction in Turkish officials' statements on the issue, stating that officials said in the beginning "there had not been any casualties at that moment".

"However, wounded passengers lost their lives in the consecutive hours and such information was confirmed by Dutch officials. We later shared the information with the public," Yildirim said.


AA