Kazakh airline Bek Air, whose plane crashed near Almaty last week and killed 12 people, said that the accident might have been caused by wake turbulence, which is the turbulence that occurs when a plan is trailing closely behind another.

Bek Air chief executive Nurlan Zhumasultanov said the jet may have been cleared for take-off too soon, as it only took off a minute or two after the previous jet.

Watch video 02:06 Share Kazakhstan plane crash Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3VOdw Kazakhstan authorities investigate cause of plane crash

"In calm weather, wake turbulence persists for two to three minutes," he said.

Kazakhstan's state-owned navigation company, Kazaeronavigatsia, which manages air traffic control in the country, said that the 1-minute, 52-second interval between take-offs adhered to standard regulations.

Read more: Lion Air: Indonesia says 'design flaws' contributed to crash

Authorities are examining the possible causes of the crash, and have not yet ruled out pilot error or technical issues. The commission is set to send the black box, which contains key flight data, to Moscow to undergo further assessment. Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin, who is leading the investigation commission, has ordered the group to present preliminary findings by January 10.

Watch video 00:49 Scene of Kazakh plane crash

The Fokker-100 lost altitude and broke through a concrete fence before hitting a two-story building on Friday morning. In addition to the 12 killed, dozens were injured in the passenger jet crash. Fifty of the injured passengers were hospitalized following the crash. A total of 98 people were on the plane.

Read more: Boeing CEO admits 737 MAX jet warning system 'mistake'

Bek Air has sinced ceased operations, and Kazakh media reports that a decision on whether the airline can resume flights will made on Jan. 10, the deadline for the presentation of the preliminary findings, at the earliest.

Every evening, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.

lc/rc (Reuters, dpa)