NO EVIDENCE OF TERRORISM BEHIND ARMENIAN PLANE CRASH: PROSECUTOR

Agence France Presse — English
May 3, 2006 Wednesday 7:06 AM GMT

Investigators have found no evidence that the crash of an Armenian
plane off Russia’s Black Sea coast on Wednesday resulted from
terrorism, Russia’s deputy prosecutor general, Nikolai Shepel, said.

“At this stage we don’t have any information to suggest the possibility
of a terrorist act against the plane,” Shepel was quoted by Interfax
news agency as saying.

Investigators continued to scour the site of the crash about six
kilometres (four miles) from the coast near the resort town of Sochi,
in which 113 people died, Russia’s emergency situations ministry said.

In particular they hoped to find the black box flight recorder that
would provide clues to the crash’s cause.

The Airbus A320 disappeared from radar screens as it made a second
attempt to land at Adler airport near Sochi early Wednesday, after
visibility had been severely reduced by heavy rain.

The prosecutor general’s office said earlier it had launched criminal
proceedings for violation of air traffic procedures leading to loss
of life.