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MORE REMAINS OF PLANE CRASH VICTIMS FLOWN TO ARMENIA
By Ruben Meloyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 15 2007
More than 18 months after the deadly crash of an Armenian airliner
in southern Russia Armenia received on Thursday the remains of ten
more victims of the worst air disaster in its history.
The disfigured corpses of three people, among them a former head of
Soviet Armenia's secret police, and body fragments of seven others
were flown to Yerevan after lengthy DNA tests conducted by Russian
forensic experts. Officials said all of them have been identified
and will be handed over to family members.
The Airbus A-320 of the Armavia national airline plunged into the
Black Sea as it tried to land in the Russian resort city of Sochi
in May 2006, killing all 113 people on board. Only the bodies of
46 of them have been fully or partially recovered from the sea and
identified by forensic experts.
Russian aviation authorities that led an official investigation into
the crash concluded in July 2006 that it was essentially caused by
pilot error. They said the A-320 crew lost control of the plane as
they made a second attempt to land at the Black Sea city's airport.
The Armenian government's Civil Aviation Department questioned some
of the conclusions drawn by Russian investigators, though. It said in
particular that they failed to take note of Sochi airport's alleged
failure to "detect dangerous weather conditions" that are thought to
have prevented the plane belonging to the national airline Armavia
from landing safely on first attempt.
Armavia's owner Mikhail Baghdasarian insists that the A-320 would
have avoided the crash had it not received a last-minute order to
veer away from the airport's runway and make a second approach.
By Ruben Meloyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 15 2007
More than 18 months after the deadly crash of an Armenian airliner
in southern Russia Armenia received on Thursday the remains of ten
more victims of the worst air disaster in its history.
The disfigured corpses of three people, among them a former head of
Soviet Armenia's secret police, and body fragments of seven others
were flown to Yerevan after lengthy DNA tests conducted by Russian
forensic experts. Officials said all of them have been identified
and will be handed over to family members.
The Airbus A-320 of the Armavia national airline plunged into the
Black Sea as it tried to land in the Russian resort city of Sochi
in May 2006, killing all 113 people on board. Only the bodies of
46 of them have been fully or partially recovered from the sea and
identified by forensic experts.
Russian aviation authorities that led an official investigation into
the crash concluded in July 2006 that it was essentially caused by
pilot error. They said the A-320 crew lost control of the plane as
they made a second attempt to land at the Black Sea city's airport.
The Armenian government's Civil Aviation Department questioned some
of the conclusions drawn by Russian investigators, though. It said in
particular that they failed to take note of Sochi airport's alleged
failure to "detect dangerous weather conditions" that are thought to
have prevented the plane belonging to the national airline Armavia
from landing safely on first attempt.
Armavia's owner Mikhail Baghdasarian insists that the A-320 would
have avoided the crash had it not received a last-minute order to
veer away from the airport's runway and make a second approach.