EXPERIENCED CREW PILOTED CRASHED PLANE – AIR COMPANY OFFICIAL

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2006

YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) – The passenger plane of the Armenian air
company Armavia that crashed into the Black Sea was in an excellent
technical condition, cleared for flights and piloted by an experienced
crew, the company’s deputy commercial director Andrei Agadzhanov said.

The plane had aboard 105 passengers and eight crew members as it was en
route from the Armenian capital Yerevan to Russia’s sea resort Sochi.

Agadzhanov told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday that the crew initially decided
to return to Yerevan because of bad weather conditions, but an air
traffic controller of the Sochi-Adler airport told it that the weather
improved over Adler.

It repeatedly deteriorated when the plane was close to the airport,
forcing the crew to fly the second circle, after which the plane
disappeared from radar screens.

A special flight will bring from Yerevan to Sochi relatives of
the crash victims, who include the former director-general of the
Armavia company, Vyacheslav Yaralov, who was flying to the funeral
of his mother-in-law.

The air accident has not affected the operation of the Armenia airport.

Armavia is continuing most of its flight services, the company’s
official told ITAR-TASS.

However, a flight to Amsterdam was cancelled.

The situation at the airport is calm.

AIR DISASTER INVOLVING ARMENIAN PLANE SHAKES ARMENIA

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2006

YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) –Armenia has been shocked to hear the
news about the air disaster involving an airbus A-320 owned by the
Armavia Armenian company.

Few people in Armenia are in the habit of listening to news on radio or
television early in the morning; therefore, many people knew nothing
about the tragedy early on Wednesday morning yet.

There were 113 people on board, including twenty-eight Russian
citizens, when the plane that performed a regular flight from Yerevan
to Sochi on the Russian Black Sea coast crashed into the Black Sea
off Adler airport.

The plane took off at 1.47 a.m. local time (0.47 a.m. Moscow time).

An air traffic controller warned the crew about bad weather in
Sochi, and the crew decided to return to the home airport, said
representatives of the Armavia company. However, a new weather forecast
radioed on board said that weather conditions were improving, and
the plane continued the flight. When the plane was approaching Adler
airport weather conditions sharply worsened, and the pilots had to
a make a second landing approach. Then, the plane disappeared from
radar screens.

Deputy Commerce director of the Armavia company Andrei Agadzhanov
said that the plane was in perfect technical condition. First deputy
director of the Armavia company Ashkharbask Kalantara said that the
plane had undergone a pre-flight check made by the Yerevan personnel
of the Sabena technical Belgian aircraft technical service company.

The air disaster was a great shock to Armenia. People say they
experienced a shock similar to the one caused by an air disaster
in July, 1975 when a Yak- 40 plane crashed on the way from Yerevan
to Batumi.

Meanwhile, relatives of the victims killed in the plane crash have
been coming to Yerevan airport pending a special flight that will
take them to the area of the plane crash off the Russian coast. A
special commission of the Armavia Company and the Head Civil Aviation
Department under the Armenian government flew to Adler to inspect
the area of the plane crash.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASEFI SENDS CONDOLENCES OVER ARMENIAN PLANE CRASH

Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
May 3 2006

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi here Wednesday expressed
condolences to the government, people and families of victims of an
Armenian plane crash in the Black Sea.

According to reports, an Armenian Airbus A-320 carrying 113 passengers
and crew crashed in the Black Sea near the south Russian seaside
resort of Sochi in heavy rain on Wednesday killing all on board.

The plane took off from the Armenian capital Yerevan and had been on
flying for about an hour when it crashed. Most of the casualties were
Armenian nationals.

A spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry said rescue workers
had found baggages, life jackets, body parts, shattered plane parts
and patches of oil floating on the surface of the sea at the crash
site. At least 16 bodies had been found by 04:25 GMT.

Asefi expressed the Iranian government’s and nation’s deepest sympathy
with the Armenian people, government and bereaved relatives of victims.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN EMERGENCY OFFICIALS: 112 PASSENGERS ON CRASHED ARMENIAN AIRLINE ARE DEAD

Pravda, Russia
May 3 2006

An Armenian passenger jet crashed in bad weather early Wednesday off
the Black Sea coast shortly before it was to land in the Russian city
of Sochi, killing at least 112 people, emergency officials said.

Armenian airline officials said they believed the crash was due to
the stormy weather.

The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia,
disappeared from radar screens just under 6 kilometers (3.7 miles)
from the shore and crashed after making a turn and heading toward the
Adler airport near Sochi, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman
Viktor Beltsov said. Rescue officials in the ministry’s southern
regional branch said the 112 people aboard the plane, including five
children, were killed.

Beltsov had said earlier that according to preliminary information,
there were 113 people aboard. Armavia deputy commercial deputy Andrei
Agadzhanov said in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, that the plane
was carrying 105 passengers and eight crew. There was no immediate
explanation for the varying numbers.

Wreckage from the plane was found not far from the shoreline, Beltsov
said, and salvage workers said the fuselage was found at a depth of 450
meters (1,485 feet). Search and rescue teams have pulled 11 bodies from
the water, Beltsov said. Boats and divers were involved in the search.

The plane disappeared from radar screens at about 2:15 a.m. (2215 GMT
Tuesday) during a flight from Yerevan to Sochi, a resort city on the
Black Sea in southern Russia, Beltsov said.

He said that the plane went down while trying to make a repeat attempt
at an emergency landing. However, the Interfax news agency quoted
the Russian air control agency as saying that the plane’s crew had
not declared any emergency.

Agadzhanov said that the crew had communicated with Sochi ground
controllers while the plane was flying over the Georgian capital,
Tbilisi. The ground controllers said there were poor weather conditions
but the plane could still land, the representative said.

Just before the landing, however, the ground controllers told the crew
to make another circle in the air before approaching the airport. Then
the plane crashed, reports the AP.

ARMENIAN CIVIL AVIATION AGENCY GIVES DETAILS OF A-320 AIRBUS CRASH NEAR SOCHI

Regnum, Russia
May 3 2006

105 passengers and 8 crew members, including 77 Armenian citizens and
28 Russian citizens, were aboard the A-320 plane belonging to Armavia
that crashed in the Black Sea, Head of the Armenian Civil Aviation
Department Artyom Movsisyan has announce while speaking on May 3 after
an extraordinary session with the Armenian president on the crash.

Movsisyan is quoted as saying by a REGNUM correspondent that the airbus
departed from Yerevan at 01:47 a.m. local time. Because of bad weather
conditions the captain decided to fly back to Zvartnots Airport
in Yerevan, however air traffic control of Adler Airport through
Georgian colleagues conveyed information that weather conditions
permitted landing. The airbus tried to land again, but because of low
visibility the captain decided to start a missed approach procedure. At
03:35 a.m. Yerevan time the aircraft disappeared from radar screens,
some time later alarm was announced.

Russian navy and coastal guard found out that the crash occurred in
a 5 km distance from Sochi coast, the information was submitted to
the Armenian authorities.

As Movsisyan said, the airbus (hull No 32009, 1995) was subjected
to renewal and examination. The plane was insured. Right before
departure from Yerevan experts from Sabina Technics Company gave a
positive conclusion about technical conditions of the airbus.

According to Movsisyan, the plane was filled up with 10 tons of fuel,
and for a flight to Sochi only 3.5 tons were enough. At present
moment, the Armenian Civil Aviation Department and Armavia have
established operative headquarters to investigate details of the
crash. As Movsisyan noted, the investigation will be carried out by
Russian agencies in charge.

POSSIBLE VISIT OF OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO NK CONFLICT REGION TO BE DEFINED AFTER MOSCOW CONSULTATIONS
Author: E.Huseynov

TREND Info, Azerbaijan
May 3 2006

An issue on the forthcoming tour of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
to the region will be defined after the completion of the Moscow
consultations, a group on Nagorno-Karabakh at the Russian Foreign
Ministry told Trend.

The consultations by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, US Ambassador
Steven Mann, Russian Ambassador Yuriy Merzlyakov, and Bernard Fassier
and special envoy of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Andjey Casprzyk
started at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Tuesday morning
(2 May).

Next steps by the co-chairs will be known as a result of consultations
due on 3 May, a group on Nagorno-Karabakh added.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER TO HEAD PLANE CRASH INVESTIGATION

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 3 2006

YEREVAN, May 3 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan
will head an investigation into a plane crash early Wednesday that
claimed 113 lives, Armenia’s presidential press service said.

An Armenian airlines Armavia A-320 airbus came down about six
kilometers off Russia’s Black Sea coast while heading for an airport
in Adler, which services the resort of Sochi. In all, 105 passengers
and eight crew members were on board.

The Emergencies Ministry said bad weather was the most likely cause of
the tragedy. Rescuers said they recovered 25 bodies from the wreckage
so far.

ALAN SEMERDJIAN – WHEN THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU

TheCelebrityCafe.com, NY
May 3 2006

– Generally, I just don’t like pretentiousness. Anything that goes out
of its way to claim that there is some sort of general truth beneath
it or greater energy, around which it orbits, irks me to the point
where I just naturally gravitate toward less “deep” material.

Sure, Jess Simpson may be an airhead, but she is also remarkably
forth-right about the fact, whereas you can find no end to the number
of frustrated artists and rockers whose work has been tainted by a
vicious self-importance. Of course, acting in the role of a critic
(even a poor one) requires no small degree of pretension either, so,
before I go off sounding like an utter hypocrite let me just say that I
really enjoyed much of what Alan Semerdjian put into his latest foray.

The New York Indie-rock/folk singer/songwriter would seem to be the
poster-child of post-modern nonsense run amok. His web-site describes
the album as blending “together indie-folk pop, alt-country forays
into the world of punk and free jazz, as well as subtle hints of his
Armenian-heritage…” I have no idea what the hell they are talking
about here, but to keep in step I’ll describe the tunes as electric
folk with a smidgeon of wild rock-west guitar and a prevailing gust of
poeticism. This kind of art-speak is what post-modernism is all about:
words, images and sound devoid of any firm content. The meaning is
supposed to be polymorphous I guess, but as far as judging the music
selection I encourage you to listen to what is here rather than how
its supporters would describe it.

To put it simply and unequivocally, this is alternative folk music.

Semerdjian screws around with some weird instruments now and then,
but they serve mostly to distract, as if to say, “Look at this,
it’s that Australian Aboriginal thingy in the background! That’s
different.” However, when he sticks to his strong suit, powerful lyrics
belted out by an almost-conversational beatnik voice, a scruffy guitar
and melancholy piano backing everything up, the results are enough
to make you want to start snapping spontaneously.

l_review/11919.html

AHMADINEJAD CONDOLES WITH ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ON PLANE CRASH

Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
May 3 2006

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a message to his Armenian counterpart
on Wednesday expressed his condolences over an Armenian plane crash
in which all on board were killed.

According to a report of Presidential Office Media Department, the
president in his message to President Robert Kocharian asked for God’s
mercy and blessing for victims and patience for the bereaved families.

An Airbus-320 of Armenian Airline crashed Wednesday morning in Black
Sea and all its crew and passengers were killed.

Bad weather in Suchi coast in the Black Sea has been blamed for
the crash.

F.KULOV EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES TO ARMENIAN PM OVER JET CRASH

Kyrgyzstan Development Gateway, Kyrgyzstan
May 3 2006

Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Felix Kulov has sent a letter of
condolences to Prime Minister of Armenia Andranik Margariyan over jet
crash near the town of Adler, which killed all passengers and the crew
of A-320 of the Armenian Airline, belonging to the air company Armavia.

In the message, F.Kulov expressed deep condolences on behalf of the
government of Kyrgyzstan and personally from him.

An A-320 passenger plane of Armenia Airlines on a flight from Yerevan
to Sochi crashed while doing a circle before landing at the Adler
Airport. There were 113 people on board the airliner.