Emergency services told news agencies that most of the dead were from the Kyrgyzstani village of Dacha-Suu, where the jet crashed into houses.
The local news site Zanoza tweeted images of a section of the plane’s fuselage among the rubble of collapsed buildings.
The Boeing 747 cargo plane was flying from Hong Kong to Istanbul via Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishek when it crashed near the main airport as it attempted to land in thick fog.
Kyrgyzstan’s transport ministry identified the plane as belonging to Turkish Airlines Boeing 747-400, but in a tweet, the company said it belonged to another Turkish firm, ACT Airlines, which operates under the name MyCargo.
Officials said the crash happened at around 7.30am local time (01.30 UTC) on Monday.\
The dead included nine adults and six children, the Russian news agency TASS said.
The four pilots also died, Kyrgyzstan’s health ministry said.
But reports suggest one person on board the plane survived.
Around 15 houses were damaged by the crash, which set off fires that have now been contained, emergency services said.
The country’s Manas airport has been closed and flights cancelled until evening at the earliest, airport authorities said.
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