National Defense Minister And His Spanish Counterpart Inspect Plane Crash Area

MACKA - National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul and his Spanish counterpart Federico Trillo inspected on Tuesday the area in Kockine region of Macka town of northeastern Trabzon province where a Ukrainian plane crashed, killing 62 Spanish soldiers and 12 crew members.
Gonul told reporters that Turkish officials continued efforts to find out the cause of the crash and said, ''the team coming from Ukraine will also carry out investigation. But, the investigation carried out by Turkish team is valid.''
Vecdi Gonul noted that black box had not been found yet, adding, ''efforts are under way to find it. The team will continue its efforts till it finds the black box. The cause of the crash will become definite after the black box is found.''
Gonul stated that a military ceremony would be held for the 62 Spanish Peace Force soldiers who lost their lives in the crash.
''We are waiting for two C-130 planes from Spain and for the completion of formalities regarding the dead bodies. The planes will probably arrive in Turkey today,'' Gonul said.
Trillo thanked Turkish officials for their efforts and said that the funeral could take place the following day if it could not be held later in the day.
(BRC-ÖS) 27.05.2003