Officials said on Monday that 22 people had survived the crash, including seven members of a Kyrgyz school sports team, flying to Tehran in Iran.

Tuesday was declared a national day of mourning.

More than 90 people were reported to have been on board the aircraft when it crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday.

Roza Daudova, a government spokeswoman, said the Boeing 737 crashed near Bishkek's Manas international airport, and that 22 people had survived.

Russia is to provide a team of experts to examine flight data recorders to learn the cause of the crash.

The Boeing-737 is thought to be locally owned but operating a service to Tehran on behalf of an Iranian carrier.

Local officials say most of the passengers were either Iranian or Kyrgyz. Iran's ambassador to Kyrgyzstan told state television that 44 Iranians were among the dead and 12 Iranians had survived.

Investigation

The cause of the crash is still not known, but reports from the scene said the jet came down shortly after takeoff and may have been trying to make an emergency landing.

The crew had reported a technical problem about 10 minutes into the flight, an airport official said.

The US military has bases in the area to support its operations in Afghanistan and it sent rescue personnel and equipment to help deal with the disaster.


Al Jazeera and agencies