Ankara - A faulty altimeter is the most likely cause of last week's crash at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport of a Turkish Airlines plane which left nine people dead and more than 80 injured, investigators said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference in The Hague, the Dutch Safety Board chairman Pieter van Vollenhoven said that examination of the so-called "black box" flight data recorder revealed that the Boeing 737-800's left altimeter was faulty.

The pilots - both of whom died in the crash - failed to notice the fault until it was too late due to the foggy conditions, he added.

Vollenhoven said the same flight had experienced the same problems with a faulty altimeter - which measures altitude above ground level - twice in its last eight landings.

Flight TK 1951 crashed into a field about 500 metres short of a runway at Amsterdam's main airport on February 25. Of the 134 people on board flight TK 1951, nine were killed and 86 injured.

The press conference was broadcast live on Turkish television. (dpa)