Author: Topchian Jane

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
May 8, 2006 Monday 01:21 PM EST

A-320 tragedy victims’ relatives to lay wreaths at crash scene

SOCHI

The relatives of the passengers who died in the Armenian Airbus-320
plane crash off Sochi last week will lay wreaths at the scene of the
accident on May 9.

Of 113 crash victims, 51 bodies have been found so far. On the fifth
day after the crash, specialists say chances that the others will be
found are quite small.

The Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia plunged into the
Black Sea as it was making a landing manoeuvre in the early hours of
May 3.

Meanwhile, the search for the flight recorders from the plane is
continuing despite rough seas.

“Specialists will be examining the bottom at the place where the
plane crashed with the help of sonar till night. French specialists
will sail off into the sea tomorrow morning, at 7 a.m. Moscow time.
They have already arrived in Sochi with equipment for a more precise
search,” an official at the search operation headquarters told
Itar-Tass on Monday.

The specialists plan to examine the seabed at a death of 450-800
metres where a large number of the plane’s fragments and the “black
boxes” are lying.

The area where the debris are scattered is quite big and the French
equipment will help to distinguish between the plane’s fragments and
personal belongings of the passengers.

Earlier, a deep-water apparatus, Kalmar, traced four unidentified
objects at the crash scene at the depth of 450 meters.

“Four objects have been traced at the depth of 450 meters. They are
being identified. The objects were found by a hydro-radar system of
the Kalmar apparatus operated from the Zaliv towboat,” Sergei
Biryukov, Executive Director of the company Tetis Pro that designed
the apparatus, told Itar-Tass.

Flight recorders used on aircraft of the Airbus-320 type withstand
the depth of up to 6,000 meters for 30 days, experts from the French
air crash investigation bureau said on Sunday.

They said that flight recorders’ radio beacons keep working during
the 30-day period.

One of the flight recorders registers flight parameters, including
the speed, height and direction of the flight and the autopilot
operation, each second. The other gadget records conversations in the
cockpit.

Each flight recorder weighs 10 kilograms, including a seven-kilogram
armoured casing for the gadget. The casing can withstand water
pressure at a depth of 6,000 meters, the temperature of 1,100 degrees
Celsius, and the compression of 2.2 tonnes.

The French experts think that flight recorders from the Armenian
Airbus-320 are lying at a depth of 680 meters.

The bureau retrieved flight recorders from the depth of over 1,000
meters in the Red Sea in January 2004, when an Egyptian plane crashed
near the Sharm-el-Sheikh resort. The rescuers were using a Scorpio
deep-water apparatus.

A technical commission investigating the Sochi air crash, which is
led by the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee, has asked French
experts to help find A-320 flight recorders.

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said, “The Frenchmen have
appropriate equipment and they are ready to quickly bring it to the
crash scene.”

Govt. to assign 100,000 to family of every Russian air crash victim
By Galina Solodovnikova

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 7, 2006 Sunday 10:07 AM EST

The government plans to assign 100,000 rubles to the family of every
Russian citizen killed in the Sochi air crash, Transport Minister
and investigation commission head Igor Levitin told a Sunday press
conference.

In addition, the families will receive 20,000 rubles from the Armavia
Armenian airline, he said.

“Sochi authorities have decided to pay 500,000 rubles to each local
family of the air crash victims and to bear the funeral expenses,”
he said.

“The governmental investigation commission will now move to Moscow
and visit the crash scene whenever necessary,” Levitin said.

‘WE ALL WANT TO KNOW THE REAL CAUSE OF THE CRASH’
By Tamar Minasian

AZG Armenian Daily
06/05/2006

Andranik Margarian Thanks Neighbors for Support

The 1.5 million drams assigned for the families of May 3 jetliner
crash are spent for transporting the bodies and funeral expenses
but the government will return to this issue once the insurance
company makes up for the loss, Armenia’s prime minister Andranik
Margarian told journalists yesterday. “The government is ready to
assign additional money to the families of the perished taking into
account that greater expanses can be required,” the PM said.

Andranik Margarian preferred keeping silent on crash theories not to
stir up physiological shock in relatives. He advised to wait for the
experts’ conclusion as they are working to find the black boxes.

“I express my gratitude to Georgian government and the Russian side
for their quick response to our needs. We all want to know the real
cause of the crash. The assessment will be objective,” said the PM.

ARMAVIA HEAD: A-320 WAS TO RETURN TO YEREVAN

Regnum, Russia
May 4 2006

Head of Armavia Airlines Mikhail Bagdasarov insists that the A-320
plane that was flying from Yerevan to Sochi, was in perfect state.

According to him, in April the airbus was subjected to a major overhaul
in Belgium and was filled in with 10 tons of fuel before the flight.

“The crew consisted of professionals. If the first command to come
back had been fulfilled, there were no problems,” Bagdasarov said.

“The plane and passengers were insured by an Armenian company, which,
in turn, reinsured risks in London. About $20,000 will be paid to
family of every victim. Of course, I understand, that this loss
cannot be made up for by money,” Bagdasarov is quoted as saying by
Radio Liberty.

The Armenian Grand Insurance Company, which insured passengers of the
A-320 flight, earlier denied reports on its intention to pay $20,000
worth compensations to the relatives. Head of Grand Artak Antonyan
announced that passengers and the crew of the A-320 airbus belonging
to Armavia and the passengers were reinsured by an insurance company in
London. The sum of compensation to the relatives will determined after
representatives of the London company visit Armenia and familiarize
themselves with all the details.

KOREA BACKS PEACEABLE RESOLUTION OF NK IN LINE WITH INT’L LAW
Author: S.Agayeva

TREND INFO, Azerbaijan
May 4 2006

Korea supports the peaceable settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict within framework of international principles,Trend reports
citing Charge d’affairs of Korea in Azerbaijan, Lew Kwang Chul.

The Korean government attentively observes over the peaceable
resolution of the conflict under the OSCE Minsk Group and hopes in
the mediators’ successful activities.

However, the diplomat noted that Korea has not its official position
on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Korea supports the resolution of the conflict within the framework
of the international norm and principle, he noted.

US ADMINISTRATION OFFERS CONDOLENCES TO RELATIVES OF A-320 PLANE CRASH VICTIMS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 04 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The US President Bush
Administration offered condolences to the family members of the victims
of the Armavia crash in the Black Sea near Sochi. According to the
Regnum news agency, the statement issued in Washingtom in particular
reads: “We offer our sincere condolences to the peoples of Armenia
and Russia, and to the families of those who died in the plane crash.”

ALL PASSENGERS OF ARMAVIA AIRLINE INSURED IN CONFORMITY WITH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
May 3 2006

Yerevan, May 3. /ARKA/. All the passengers of the Armavia airline
were insured in conformity with international standards, the press
service of the airline reports.

The risks were re-insured at the international market. The amount
and order of payment of compensations will be determined after the
investigation, which is being conducted with the involvement of
independent experts appointed by the re-insurer companies.

The “Armavia” plans to report on the rules of compensation immediately
after the investigation.

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.

NKR PRESIDENT SINGS DECREES ON CONFERING HONORARY TITLES AND REWARDING WITH NKR MEDALS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 02 2006

STEPANAKERT, MAY 2, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. NKR President
Arkadi Ghukasian signed a number of decrees on April 29 on confering
honorary titles and rewarding with NKR medals. According to them,
Hamlet Grigorian and Sergey Sargsian were confered title of the NKR
honorary figure of science for great contribution in the affair of
development of the spheres of science, education, display of exclusive
professional skills and scientific activity. As the NKR President’s
acting Press Secretary informed Noyan Tapan, Elmira Gabrielian, Vazgen
Gasparian, Zoya Iskandarian, Armo Mkrtchian, Lyudmila Shakarian were
confered honorary title of the NKR Honorary Pedagogue for teaching
children, teenagers and youth and the exclusive contribution in the
spheres of bringing up. Violeta Baghdasarian was confered honorary
title of the NKR honorary figure of culture. Sergey Avanesian was
confered honorary title of the NKR honorary figure of physical
training and sports. By Arkadi Ghukasian’s decree, Zhasmen Davtian,
Zoya Hovhannisian and Zhanna Hovsepian were rewarded with “Vachagan
Barepasht” medal for development of education and science in the NKR,
preparing qualified specialists, aimful and productive activity in
the spheres of education and brigning up. By NKR President’s another
decree, Aramayis Aghasian, Armenak Davtian, Grisha Ghazarian and
Marat Sahakian were rewarded with “Yerakhtagitoutiun” (gratitute)
medal for significant contribution in the spheres of education and
bringing up of the younger generation.

3 SPORTSMEN OF VANADZOR TO PARTICIPATE IN JUNE IN TOURNAMENT OF POWER TRIATHLON TO TAKE PLACE IN CZECHIA

Noyan Tapan
May 02 2006

VANADZOR, MAY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. In the tournament organized in Yerevan by
the RA Power Triathlon Federation, 3 members of the Vanadzor “Shotokan”
team, Haroutiun Toumanian, Andranik Hakobov and Kristina Tokalian,
took the 1st places in different weigth categories and got possibility
to participate in June in the international tournament to take place
in Czechia. As Gagik Saroyan, the Chairman of the Federation informed
the Noyan Tapan correspondent, Sargis Torosian, who was announced
the absolute leader of this tournament for the 4th time continuously,
was also awarded gold medal. The “Voskevaz” team took the 1st place,
and the “Shotokan” and “Olympia” teams of Vanadzor took successively
the 2nd and 3rd places.