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Russian Emergency Officials: 112 Passengers On Crashed ArmenianAirli

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  • Russian Emergency Officials: 112 Passengers On Crashed ArmenianAirli

    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.
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