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Tears, Anger As Relatives Mourn Armenian Air Crash Victims

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  • Tears, Anger As Relatives Mourn Armenian Air Crash Victims

    TEARS, ANGER AS RELATIVES MOURN ARMENIAN AIR CRASH VICTIMS

    Agence France Presse -- English
    May 3, 2006 Wednesday 11:17 AM GMT

    Stunned and in tears, the distraught families of passengers killed
    when an Armenian plane plunged into the Black Sea battled Wednesday
    to come to terms with the sudden loss of their loved ones.

    In anguished scenes at Yerevan airport, many pinned the blame for the
    crash in the early hours on Russian and Armenian aviation officials.

    "My little boy was on there. He wasn't even 25 years old," said one
    tearful mother among those at the Armenian capital's airport.

    Most relatives had heard about the crash from watching television or
    after being telephoned by other family members.

    Many of the 113 people who died when the Armavia Airbus A320 crashed
    as it tried to land near the Russian resort town of Sochi were making
    family visits, reflecting the close ties between Russia and its small
    Caucasus neighbour.

    Russian and Armenian officials have both blamed the crash on poor
    weather conditions, saying the pilot aborted a first attempted
    landing because of rain and poor visibility before wheeling round
    for a second attempt.

    A teenage boy, Apet Tatevosyan, appeared barely able to grasp the
    news as he waited in the airport hall, as emergency workers and
    officials bustled.

    "My mum was on the plane. She had gone to visit her sisters who she
    hadn't seen in 15 years," he said. "We thought she was going to call
    -- when she didn't, I was worried and called our relatives in Sochi
    who told us the news."

    His disbelief was echoed by Andranig Avetisyan, who also lost a
    loved one.

    "I lost my niece. She lives in Sochi and had come to visit us in
    Yerevan," Avetisyan said.

    A woman who said she her husband had been killed lashed out at the
    state of the planes operated by the Armavia national carrier.

    "They tell us that these planes are in a good state. And then what?

    They call that a good state!," exclaimed the woman furiously.

    The mother who had lost her son blamed Sochi's Adler airport for
    hesitating to let the plane land in heavy rain that was lashing the
    coast at the time.

    "If the airport had quickly allowed the plane to come in to land,
    the disaster would never have happened," she said, as a white-coated
    doctor approached her to administer a sedative.

    A team of four doctors was on hand at Yerevan, while Russian
    authorities said psychologists were being deployed in Sochi to help
    the bereaved when they arrived to help with identification of the dead.

    "We have seen hysteria, hypertension, heart attacks. We have also
    provided psychological help to those who need it," said one doctor,
    Larisa Arsenyan.

    Some 78 of the bereaved left for Sochi early Wednesday. More were
    expected to follow on a second flight later in the day.
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