KUN0038 4 GEN 0333 KUWAIT /KUNA-SLP1 MIL-AIR-UZBEKISTAN British UN chief killed in Uzbek plane crash LONDON, Jan 14 (KUNA) -- A top British United Nations official was among those who died in a plane crash in Uzbekistan, the Foreign Office in London confirmed Wednesday. Richard Conroy, the UN's resident co-ordinator in the country, was one of about 36 people on board the domestic airliner which crashed in heavy fog on approach to the airport in Uzbekistan's capital last night. An airport worker said the plane appeared to hit approach lights and flipped over, hitting the outside of a wall surrounding the landing area. No survivors were reported. Conroy, a 56-year-old British-Australian citizen, was the senior UN official in the country and was based in Tashkent. A Foreign Office spokesman said We can confirm a Briton, Richard Conroy, the UN's resident co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, was among those killed in the plane crash near Tashkent Airport. Next of kin have been informed". The plane was an Uzbekistan Airways Yakovlev-40 which had been en-route from Termez, in the country's far south along the Afghanistan border, said an interior ministry duty officer who declined to give his name. An Uzbekistan Airways official in Moscow, Eduard Mirzoyan, reportedly said 36 people were on board. An airport employee said 32 passengers and five crew members were aboard the plane. The crash area was sealed off to the public. Next to the landing area is a mixture of industrial buildings and open spaces. It was not clear whether any buildings were damaged in the crash. Several hours after the crash, the airport announced that it was closed due to bad weather and that arriving flights were being diverted to Samarkand, about 200 miles to the south west. Termez became a major hub for humanitarian aid into northern Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001 and aid workers and other foreigners commonly travel on flights between that city and the Uzbek capital. (end) he.rk KUNA 141317 Jan 04NNNN