Russian Defense Ministry Confirms Airplane Crash in Georgia, 75 DieRussia's Defense Ministry confirmed reports that a Russian airplane with 75 people aboard crashed in Georgia Wednesday evening.Neither the cause nor the circumstances of the crash are known, the ministry said. The Ilyushin Il-18 crashed near Mt. Tirava, 20 kilometers east of Batumi, capital of Georgia's autonomous Adzharia region. Local residents said they had heard an explosion and seen a strong fire. The aircraft had been a military mail aircraft, which made two flights a month between Chkalovsky near Moscow and Batumi. It took off in Chkalovsky at 1:46 p.m. Moscow time (0946 GMT) and started descending at 5:25 p.m. (1325 GMT). Radio contact was lost 55 minutes later, said the ministry. The ministry said there were 11 crew members and 64 passengers,both servicemen and civilians, on board. The Russian government has appointed an investigation commission comprising officials from the Defense Ministry flight safety service and air force and civil aviation experts. The commission leaves Chkalovsky for the crash site at 8 a.m. (0400 GMT) Thursday. Interfax said in a newest dispatch that Georgian rescuers have found fragments of the crashed plane and scorched earth in the accident area, but no survivor of the crewmen and passengers. The 11 crew members and 64 passengers on board most likely did not survive the crash, the Emergency Situations Department of Georgia's autonomous Adzharia region said. "It is unlikely that any of the passengers could have survived such an explosion, although search and rescue operations are still underway," one department source told Interfax. All 75 people aboard a Russian plane, which crashed into a mountain in Georgia Wednesday evening, have died, the Itar-Tass news agency said in a latest report, citing witnesses as saying that violent blast was heard and a strong fire broke out while the aircraft hit into the mountain. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |