At least 25 passengers survived the crash of a Boeing-737 passenger jet near Bishkek, capital of Central Asia's Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, Kyrgyz Emergency Minister Kamchibek Tashiyev said.[Xinhua]

The Boeing 737-200 was chartered by an Iranian company and bound for Tehran. It crashed soon after take-off on Sunday near Manas airport, located about 30 kilometers from Bishkek.

A spokeswoman for the airport says the plane reported a technical problem... and tried to return to the airport before the crash. According to initial reports, the plane suffered from a sudden loss of pressure, causing the pilot to request an emergency landing.

Kyrgyz Emergencies Minister Kamchibek Tashiyev said 90 people were on board and 25 of them survived. But later, after an emergency meeting, Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said there were fewer survivors than that.