Plane Was Carrying US Drug Enforcement Officials

A transport plane chartered by the US is down after overshooting the runway in Lashka Gar, Afghanistan Monday. Two Ukranian crew members onboard the Antonov AN-32 are dead, as are three on the ground, after the plane apparently veered sharply to avoid hitting a vehicle that wandered on the runway.

There were 17 people in all aboard the aircraft, many of them US agents reportedly involved in a counter-narcotics operation. Eight of the 13 passengers sustained minor injuries.

The plane careened off the runway and slid sideways into several mud-built homes. Two girls, ages two and three, were killed when the sliding Antonov crashed into their huts as they slept, their mothers told the Associated Press.

"We were sitting eating our lunch when I heard a loud noise, and then turned to see a big plane sliding along the ground from the airstrip before it smashed into our homes," said Lal Bibi, whose 2-year-old daughter, Palwasha, was killed.

At least five other people in the village were hurt in the crash.

The aircraft had been leased by the US State Department. It carried a team from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. That agency has been working with law officers in Afghanistan to wipe out the country's crop of opium poppies, especially prevalent in the southern part of the country.

FMI: www.dea.gov