Monday, May 6, 2013

Bodies Found After Kyrgyzstan Plane Crash

Bodies Found After Kyrgyzstan Plane Crash

The crash site of an American KC-135

Two bodies have been found in the wreckage of an American military aircraft that crashed not far from its base in Kyrgyzstan.
The KC-135 refuelling aircraft came down on Friday afternoon near the village of Chaldovar, about 100miles (160km) west of the Manas air base, outside the capital Bishkek.
The authorities said they were still looking for a third person who was on board.
On Friday, it was reported that local people had seen an airman parachute from the plane before it came down.
The refuelling plane was said to have exploded in mid air when its cargo of fuel ignited on its way to Afghanistan on Friday, accident investigators said.
Experts were still trying to work out what led up to the crash.
Kuvan Mamakeev, the Kyrgyz state prosecutor responsible for investigating transport crimes and accidents, said: "It could be because of the fuel, because of the engine, the weather conditions or the human factor."
Remains of the two bodies were found on Saturday. They have yet to be identified.
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker took off from the US military's transit centre at Kyrgyzstan's Manas airport, which American forces maintain for operations in Afghanistan.
It had around 70 tonnes of fuel on board, a local ministry official said.
Chaldovar US plane crash
The plane came down in the Chaldovar region, in Kyrgyzstan
The wreckage of the plane was scattered over a three and a half mile (5km) area in a mountainous part of the Central Asian republic.
The plane reportedly broke into three pieces when it crashed into an uninhabited region.
The deputy district chief Anatoly Ivannikov told local radio on Friday: "The preliminary information is that the pilot jumped out with a parachute. They have gone to look for him."
A spokeswoman at the US base said they were still confirming the report.
The US base, outside the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, was established in late 2001 to support the international military campaign in Afghanistan. Around 1,200 US military personnel are located there.
It has been the subject of a contentious dispute between the United States and its host nation. In 2009, the US reached an agreement with the Kyrgyz government to use the base in return for $60m (£38.5m) a year.
But the lease runs out in June 2014 and the United States wants to keep the base beyond that point to aid in the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
The KC-135 is an aerial refuelling aircraft, used to give fighter jets and bombers greater range.

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