Bodies returned home to Armenia after Black Sea plane crash

Agence France Presse — English
May 5, 2006 Friday 2:34 PM GMT

YEREVAN, May 5 2006 — The first bodies of passengers killed when an
Armenian Airbus crashed into the Black Sea were flown back to Yerevan
early Friday, an airline spokesman said.

All 113 passengers and crew on the flight from the Armenian capital
are thought to have died when the Airbus A320 plunged into the sea
early Wednesday as it tried to land at Sochi, southern Russia, in
bad weather.

A total of 53 bodies have so far been fished out of the water and 37
have been identified, including that of an air hostess.

Of these, 26 were returned to the Armenian capital Yerevan early
Friday on board a Russian emergency ministry aircraft, a spokeswoman
for Armenian airline Armavia said.

Relatives of the victims had earlier overwhelmed the authorities in
Sochi when they began the grim task of identifying their loved ones
from photographs taken of the bodies, including that of a child.

Hopes for an orderly process quickly evaporated when relatives rushed
all at once to view the photos posted in a Sochi hotel.

Two people passed out and doctors attempting to comfort relatives
with drinks of water and sedatives ran out of drugs.

“We don’t have any more sedatives and we have the whole night ahead
of us,” said one nurse.

The repatriation of the bodies of victims already identified
was briefly delayed by a shortage of coffins, according to Andrei
Agajanov, a spokesman for the Armenian airline Armavia, which owned
the ill-fated plane.

“I hope that all the other families can recover the bodies. The
important thing is to be able to bury the victims so that there is
a place where you can go to cry,” said Arman Davtian, a 20-year-old
just returned from Sochi where the remains of his brother have been
identified.

For another grieving man, his eyes red through crying and fatigue,
the search for a brother-in-law continues.

“The victims’ bodies are unrecognisable, horribly disfigured. A mother
wouldn’t know her own son,” the young man said.

Russian authorities intend to carry out DNA tests on the corpses which
cannot be otherwise identified, said Russian Transport Minister Igor
Levitin in Sochi.

Some people who arrived at Yerevan airport late Thursday to reclaim
their relatives’ bodies left again in angry mood after being informed
of the delay which meant the plane carrying the victims remains would
not arrive until Friday.

Friday is a day of national mourning here and in Russia with religious
services planned throughout the Armenian diaspora.

The Armenian state will grant 3,300 dollars to victims’ families who
can expect another 20,000 dollars each in insurance payouts.

The two “black box” flight recorders have been located, Levitin said.

Neither the Russian Black Sea fleet nor the Northern Fleet was fully
equipped to retrieve the recorders, he said, and appealed for help
from foreign countries in raising them from the seabed.