Plane crash victims' relatives join search
Source: Agencies |
May 19, 2010, Wednesday
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RELATIVES of passengers aboard an Afghan plane that crashed with 44 on board joined a desperate search for the wreckage yesterday as government and NATO rescue helicopters whirred overhead.
The plane, operated by Pamir Airways, a private Afghan airline, was traveling from Kunduz to Kabul when it crashed on Monday.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane when it was about 85 kilometers north of Kabul, prompting rescue workers to rush to the Salang Pass, a major route through the Hindu Kush mountains that connects the capital to the north.
Aerial searches by the Afghan government and the international coalition, hampered by dense fog and darkness on Monday night, resumed at dawn.
"Right now, we are looking to identify the location of the crash," Afghan President Hamid Karzai said. "In some areas, the bad weather - snow, rain and fog - will not let us do the search. We're very hopeful that we will able to find the victims of the crash soon and hand the bodies over to their families."
Abdul Shakour, a district official in Parwan province, said seven tribal elders in the area where the plane was last reported each promised to send two or three experienced climbers to search the remote mountains for any sign of the missing aircraft.
For families of those aboard the aircraft, however, despair turned to anger over the delay.
"People are very upset with the government because it has no forces here to help us. And these 48 countries in ISAF, where are they today? They are not here to help us," said Mohammad Isahq, a Kabul shopkeeper whose nephew, Omar Sahel, was a flight attendant on the plane.
Isahq said that the families were ready to do the search themselves.
The plane, operated by Pamir Airways, a private Afghan airline, was traveling from Kunduz to Kabul when it crashed on Monday.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane when it was about 85 kilometers north of Kabul, prompting rescue workers to rush to the Salang Pass, a major route through the Hindu Kush mountains that connects the capital to the north.
Aerial searches by the Afghan government and the international coalition, hampered by dense fog and darkness on Monday night, resumed at dawn.
"Right now, we are looking to identify the location of the crash," Afghan President Hamid Karzai said. "In some areas, the bad weather - snow, rain and fog - will not let us do the search. We're very hopeful that we will able to find the victims of the crash soon and hand the bodies over to their families."
Abdul Shakour, a district official in Parwan province, said seven tribal elders in the area where the plane was last reported each promised to send two or three experienced climbers to search the remote mountains for any sign of the missing aircraft.
For families of those aboard the aircraft, however, despair turned to anger over the delay.
"People are very upset with the government because it has no forces here to help us. And these 48 countries in ISAF, where are they today? They are not here to help us," said Mohammad Isahq, a Kabul shopkeeper whose nephew, Omar Sahel, was a flight attendant on the plane.
Isahq said that the families were ready to do the search themselves.
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