Thirty-one die in Iraq plane crash-Turkish official

ANKARA, Jan 9 (Reuters) Thirty-one people were killed today when their chartered plane crashed while trying to land in foggy conditions in Iraq, Turkish officials said.

The Moldovan Antonov-26, which took off from the Turkish city of Adana early on Tuesday, was carrying about 35 people including 30 construction workers, the officials said.

''The plane came down at about midday Turkish time 1500 hrs some 2.5 km to the northwest of Balad,'' a Foreign Ministry official told Reuters. He put the death toll at 31 and said one person was injured and three were missing.

Adana's governor Cahit Kirac told CNN Turk television that the plane was carrying 29 Turks, one American and a crew comprising one Russian, one Ukrainian and three Moldovans.

Balad is the main US military logistics hub in Iraq, about 80 km north of the capital Baghdad. Turkish media initially reported that the crash occurred in Baghdad.

The plane belonged to Moldova's Aerian Tur Airlines and the workers on board were from the Turkish construction company Kulak, the Foreign Ministry official said.

The US military, which controls Iraqi air space, declined to comment.

There was no suggestion that hostile fire had brought down the plane. In 2005, hostile ground-to-air fire brought down a British military transport plane in the same area, killing all on board.

REUTERS SSC BST2009