Seoul, Jan 14 (TIWN) A South Korean passenger jet carrying dozens of citizens departed on Thursday from a Kazakh airport, eight days after it got grounded in the Central Asian nation gripped by political turmoil.

The Asiana Airlines Inc. flight took off from Almaty International Airport at 1.13 p.m., carrying 43 South Koreans and four Kazakh nationals, Yonhap News Agency quoted an official at Seoul's Foreign Ministry as saying.

The plane had been stranded in Kazakhstan since it landed on January 5, when protesters took control of the nation's main gateway.