CIS STATES TO SEND EXPERTS TO PROBE SUDAN PLANE CRASHES

RIA Novosti, Russia
14:45 | 30/ 06/ 2008

World

Experts from the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), a civil
aviation body for ex-Soviet states, will take part in a probe into
recent crashes of Soviet-made transport planes in Sudan, the IAC said
on Monday.

"We have not received an official request from Sudan, but when we
do, our experts, in line with international agreements, will fly
to crash sites [in Sudan] to participate in the investigation,"
the spokesman said.

A Soviet-made An-12 cargo plane with eight people on board crashed
mid-flight from Khartoum to Sudan’s southern capital Juba last
Friday. One crewmember, a local Sudanese, survived, while seven others
including four Ukrainians and one Armenian were killed.

On Monday, a Soviet-made Il-76 cargo plane crashed immediately after
taking-off from Khartoum airport, exploding into a fireball and
killing all four Russian crewmembers.

The IAC, formed on the basis of an intergovernmental Agreement on civil
aviation signed in 1991, comprises Commonwealth of Independent States
members Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.