05 April 2011, 23:10
Georgia to investigate crash of its aircraft in Congo together with the UN
The Georgian aviation authorities and UN officials will conduct a joint inquiry into the catastrophe, which happened with the UN aircraft belonging to the "Airzena-Georgian Airways" airline in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In Congo, the "Airzena" aircraft, which serviced the UN mission in that country, had a crash on April 4. Among the casualties are citizens of various countries, including Russia and Kazakhstan, and the crew consisting of four citizens of Georgia.
As reported at a briefing today by Giorgi Karbelashvili, Deputy Minister for Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, the night before an investigatory team was set up for the purpose, which was strengthened by officials from the Department of Civil Aviation of the united Transport Administration of the Ministry, the "News-Georgia" reports.
"Based on the available information, the aircraft got under tropical rain and wind that led to this tragedy," said Karbelashvili. According to his version, all the 29 passengers and 4 pilots died in place.
In their turn, the UN have confirmed that one person had survived the crash, the Radio Liberty reports; the name of the survivor was not disclosed.
Nino Giorgobiani, Head of Public Relations of the "Airzena", had stated earlier that during landing the aircraft got under heavy rain and wind already on the runway; therefore, it hit the surface, cracked into two pieces and burst into flames.
