Armenian Plane Crash Update
Global Voices Online has a round up of blogs dealing with yesterday’s crash of an Armavia A-320 as it attempted to land in Sochi. Ironic that when Armenia makes headline news around the world it has to be something like this.
Indeed, typical questions being asked of me last night by a few people were things like why wasn’t I there taking photographs and reports. Others spoke about their own experiences of flying Armavia, while most people carried on with their lives regardless.
Anyway, my response was that I’m not interested in covering the story, especially when there are already a zillion reports and images flying through the wires, like this one from the BBC.
So far, 47 bodies of the 113 aboard the Armavia A320 jet have been retrieved from choppy sea waters.
The cause of the crash is not known but officials say the plane may have been brought down by bad weather as it tried to land in the Russian resort of Sochi.
Passengers’ relatives have gathered in the city to begin identifying the dead.
Photos of the bodies recovered so far have been posted in a hotel in Sochi where the relatives are staying.
Anyway, RFE/RL says that Armavia intends to continue flying, although a friend due to fly back to Damascus last night had her flight cancelled at the last moment. In other news, the Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan has been despatched to Sochi to clarify “the causes and cricumstances” of the crash.
I’m sorry, why the Defense Minister? Maybe because Mika Armenia was reported to last year control Armavia, and Mika Baghdasarov is considered inseparable from Serzh Sarkisyan?
Regardless, President Kocharian has declared Friday and Saturday as national days of mourning. To be honest, the crash was indeed a tragedy, but to make it into a national tragedy? Anyway, there’s already a Wiki page on yesterday’s tragic accident here.