HUNT FOR ARMENIA AIR CRASH BODIES

BBC NEWS:
europe/4967464.stm
2006/05/03 11:12:35 GMT

Bad weather is slowing recovery of the bodies of 113 people killed
when a plane flying from Armenia to southern Russia crashed into the
Black Sea.

The Airbus A320 crashed at about 0215 local (2215 GMT) as it made
a second attempt to land at an airport near the Russian resort town
of Sochi.

It was initially refused permission to land because of poor weather,
which investigators blame for the crash.

All aboard died but only 38 bodies have been recovered from the water
so far.

Both Russia and Armenia have declared a day of mourning on 5 May,
the Kremlin said.

I was waiting for a call from my mother that she had arrived OK. But
she did not phone, so I phoned myself and heard that this accident
had happened Khapet Tadevosyan Victim’s relative

Officials co-ordinating the recovery effort say that emergency teams
have discovered baggage, life jackets, body parts and wreckage at
the spot where the aircraft plunged into the water.

Russian television showed footage of small boats returning to shore
with debris that they had picked up from the crash scene.

More than 20 vessels are involved in the recovery operation, but
weather conditions are preventing the use of aircraft.

‘Disappeared from radar’

The plane had been making a short flight of about an hour from the
Armenian capital Yerevan.

Reports said it was carrying 85 Armenian citizens, 26 Russians, one
Georgian and one Ukrainian. Among those on board were eight crew and
five children.

According to a Russian emergency official, the aircraft “disappeared
from radar screens as it was making another emergency landing attempt”.

“It plunged into the sea at an angle of 60 degrees,” Viktor Beltsov
said.

Armavia, the airline which owned the plane, say that it was in good
condition and that the crew were experienced.

The chief of the main civil aviation department in the Armenian
government also said the plane had passed planned checks and repairs
in April, Itar-Tass news agency reports.

Terrorism has been ruled out as a cause.

“The only thing that can be said about versions of what has happened
is that the version of a terrorist act has been fully excluded,” a
spokesperson for the Russian prosecutor-general’s office was quoted
as saying by Itar-Tass.

The Russian prosecutor general’s office announced it had launched
criminal proceedings for violation of air traffic procedures leading
to loss of life, according to the AFP news agency.

Sochi is a popular Russian seaside resort, near the border with
Georgia.

Stunned relatives sat quietly awaiting news at Adler airport just
outside Sochi and at the airport in Yerevan.

“I was waiting for a call from my mother that she had arrived OK. But
she did not phone, so I phoned myself and heard that this accident
had happened,” Khapet Tadevosyan, 32, told Reuters news agency as he
stood in the Yerevan airport building.

“She flew to Sochi to see her sisters, whom she hadn’t seen for 15
years,” he said.