Mon, Feb 20, 2006
Over 1,000 Iraqis Searched For Three Days
It took rescuers three days to
locate the wreckage of an aircraft, believed to be a Cessna
business jet, that fell off radar screens Thursday over the
mountains of northern Iraq. When the plane was finally found
Sunday, those on the scene report all onboard the plane
unfortunately perished in the crash.
"I am standing by the wreckage right now. There are six bodies
and we have asked for a helicopter to come from the American base
and pick them up," said Sulaimaniya airport director Kameran Ahmad
to Reuters. "The plane crashed and experts are here to investigate
what happened."
Preliminary word of the incident varied widely, with
initial reports stating only five were onboard the plane -- four
Germans, and an Iraqi. A German police spokesman later confirmed
three German employees from an unnamed company north of Munich were
onboard, along with an Iraqi business associate and two pilots. The
nationality of the pilots is not yet known.
The jet -- identified in early reports from the region as a
"Sesna C501" -- was flying from Azerbaijan en route to northern
Iraq when it went down in the mountainous Arbad region of
northeastern Iraq, near the Iranian border. Over 1,000 Iraqis,
including members of the Kurdish peshmerga militia, assisted in the
search, along with a five-member US team and US military
aircraft.
Ahmad told Reuters officials lost contact with the plane
Thursday afternoon as it was flying at 8,000 ft. There is no word
yet on a possible cause of the crash, including whether the plane
was shot down -- although it appears more likely the accident was
weather-related.
There was a snowstorm Thursday in the area where the plane went
down, Ahmad said.
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