MAY 5 – A MOURNING DAY IN RUSSIA
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[01:03 pm] 03 May, 2006
RF President Vladimir Putin has condoled with RA President Robert
Kocharyan on the crash of the Armenian airplane flying from Yerevan
to Adler. He announced that it is the tragedy of the Armenian and
Russian nations.
In Russia too, like Armenia, May 5 has been announced a mourning
day. Let us remind you that 26 of the passengers of the plane were
citizens of Russia.
18 BODIES OF PASSENGERS OF ARMAVIA’S CRASHED PLANE FOUND IN BLACK SEA
Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. 18 bodies of passengers of the crashed A-320
plane of the Armavia company (Armenia) have been found in the Black
Sea, report Russian sources. Also found are debris, fragments of
bodies, baggage. The plane fell 300 meters deep into the sea.
It was produced by Airbus Industry, the biggest European concern,
in 1987 for short and medium distance flight. It flew for the first
time Feb 22 1987.
The search is underway. The plane was making a crash landing. It
flew from Yerevan to Sochi and got lost from radars 02:15 AM. The
prosecutor’s office of Sochi has instituted criminal proceedings in
the case “violation of the rules of aircraft exploitation.”
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT EXTENDS HIS CONDOLENCES TO RELATIVES AND FRIENDS OF THOSE KILLED IN TODAY’S AIR CRASH
Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan extended
his deep condolences to the relatives and friends of the passengers
and the pilots of the Armavia’s plane that crashed today night while
flying from Yerevan to Sochi.
“I was deeply grieved to learn about the night crash. I extend my
deepest condolences to the relatives and friends of the passengers and
the pilots. I assure that all the aggrieved families will be provided
with support and our authorities will do their best to find out the
reasons of the crash,” says Kocharyan.
“GRAND” INSURANCE COMPANY WILL PAY COMPENSATION TO “ARMAVIA” AIR COMPANY
Panorama.am
16:06 03/05/06
“Grand” Insurance Company is ready to pay the compensation to air
companies “Armavia” in accordance to the Insurance agreement clause
on third party liability – the managing director of “Grand” Artak
Antonyan said to Panorama reporter. In his words the air-craft A-320
was insured also by CASCO (insurance of vehicles against total loss
or partial damage, resulting from fire, theft, malicious acts of
third parties, natural disasters, road accidents, etc).
Presently the amount of the insurance indemnity is being
defined. Antonyan reported that “Grand “reached preliminary agreement
with re-insuring company about compensation payment.
THE MAIN HYPOTHESIS IS BAD WEATHER
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[12:50 pm] 03 May, 2006
Artyom Movsisyan, the head of the Chief Administration of Civic
Aviation announced that the plane A-320 has been examined fully and
completely and the version of its being out of order is excluded. The
state of the plane had also been checked before the flight.
The connection with the plane was lost six minutes before the supposed
landing in the Sochi airport, at about 02:15 AM. As it was revealed,
the plane crushed five kilometers away from the seashore where 300
meters under the water the remains of the crashed plane have been
found.
Artyom Movsisyan has announced that the crew of the plane consisted of
professionals. The head of the Chief Administration of Civic Aviation
also excluded the version of the lack of fuel. According to him,
the plane had 10 tons of fuel whereas only 3.5 tons would suffice
for the flight from Yerevan to Adler.
“The preliminary hypothesis is about the weather”, he said. 77 of the
passengers of the plane were citizens of Armenia, 26 – of Russia, one
of Georgia, and one of Ukraine. The majority of them were Armenians
living in Russia.
77 ARMENIAN AND 28 RUSSIAN CITIZENS WERE ONBOARD THE CRASHED ARMAVIA PLANE
Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. 77 Armenian citizens and 28 Russian citizens,
mostly of Armenian origin, were onboard Armavia’s A-320 plane which
crashed 5 km of Sochi this night, says the head of the chief department
of civil aviation of Armenia Artem Movsissyan.
A total of 113 people were onboard, with the bodies of only 18 ones
found to date.
Movsissyan says that the plane took off from Yerevan 01:47 AM.
Because of bad weather over Georgia the captain decided to go back
to Yerevan, but the controller said that the weather was improving
and the plane could land in Sochi. 03:15 AM the plane disappeared.
According to the preliminary information, the plane crashed because
of bad weather, but the final answer will be given only after the
investigation. Movsissyan says that before the flight the plane was
in normal technical condition and its 10 tons of fuel were enough
for coming back to Yerevan – from Yerevan to Sochi a plane consumes
only 3.5 tons of fuel. Movsissyan says that A-320 was produced in
1995 and was insured.
Today the Armenian President called a meeting and gave instructions to
relevant services. One more Armavia plane with relatives and experts
onboard flew to Sochi today morning.
PATIENCE TO THE RELATIVES OF THE VICTIMS
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[03:15 pm] 03 May, 2006
Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II has delivered a condoling
message to the relatives of the victims of the air crash. The
message says:
“We learned about the destruction of the airplane and the death of
the passengers and the crew with the deepest sorrow. We mourn this
great and unexpected loss together with the relatives of the victims
and the whole nation. We condole with the families and relatives of
the victims on behalf of the Armenian Church.
We pray to God to accept the innocent souls and to grant them eternal
peace. We pray Him to console the souls of those who are desolate in
order to survive the grief of the loss. Amen”.
THE POSSIBLE REASONS OF THE AIRPLANE CRASH IN BLACK SEA ARE ANNOUNCED
Panorama.am
14:41 03/05/06
The strong air wave was named as one of the possible reasons of the
A-320 air plane crash in Black sea.
This was reported by the Agency of the National News (ANN). According
to the source, the version of the natural cataclysm stays the most
probable among the others. Experts say “preliminary data show that
A-320 craft was knocked down to the surface and literally fall into
pieces”.
As per PRAIM-TASS agency, one of the reasons of the crash could be
that air craft has fallen into the waterspout. Amongst the other
reasons one mentions the conditions of boarding in Sochi airport,
where take-off and boarding are performed above the sea.
However there is nothing unusual in such scheme of take -off and
boarding, it is being used in other airports worldwide, notes the
Agency.
The power authorities deny the version of terrorist act. ITAR-TASS
quoting the source from State Department of Internal Affairs of
Krasnodar region reports that there are no grounds to speak about
the blast occurring on board. According to ANN, air craft was so worn
out that it could not stand any critics.
In the same time, technical reasons of the catastrophe were dismissed
by the Armavia Company. According to its representative, the air
craft was in ideal technical condition, was allowed to flight, and
led by the experienced crew.
US NOT IN FAVOR OF BUILDING NEW NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
May 02 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues related to construction of a
second nuclear power plant in Armenia were discussed at the 12th
sitting of the US-Armenia Task Force (USATF) in Yerevan on May
2. RA Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatrian stated
this at a press conference following the sitting. “The RA energy
minister presented clearly that if the operating Metsamor nuclear
power plant is closed, a new one must start operating on the same
day,” V. Khachatrian said. According to him, it is envisaged that
the second nuclear power plant should have a greater capacity of
1,000 megawatts. At the same time, as the finance minister noted,
the Armenian government must be able to obtain the necessary funds
for the construction of a new nuclear power plant and the closure of
the old one. Tom Adams, US Coordinator for Europe and Eurasia, said
that the US government is not in favor of the idea of building a new
nuclear plant in Armenia. In his words, taking the issue of security
into account, it would be more correct to find an alternative solution.
RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER MET OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS
ArmRadio.am
03.05.2006 11:21
On May 2 Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigori Karasin met
the Russian, American and French Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk.
“During the meeting the issues in the agenda of settlement of the
Karabakh conflict were discussed,” Russian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs informed.