(6 Feb 2005) SHOTLIST
But Khak field operations centre (seven kilometres/four miles from the crash site), Khake Jaebar mountains
1. Wide of convoy of Afghan national police and Afghan military driving towards filed centre
2. Various of Afghan soldiers armed with rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) on a pick up truck
3. Various of ISAF (International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan) helicopters flying over mountains towards crash site
4. Various of the quick Reaction team of the Afghan National Police Force in line listening to instructions
5. Set up shot of commander of Quick Reaction Team, Major General Maheooe Amiri (with fur beret)
6. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Major General Mahbub Amiri , commander of Police's Quick Reaction Team:
"The main problem during the search is the weather and the heavy snow falls which came down in the crash area. With God's will, and if the weather gets better, our personnel will get to the crash site quickly and then they will be able to provide help on the site."
7. Various of Quick Reaction Team
8. Various of ISAF armour carriers, with German forces driving towards field operation centre
9. Various of Afghan national police vehicles and fire engines at field centre


STORYLINE

ISAF (International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan) helicopters and hundreds of police struggled to reach the wreckage of an Afghan airliner Sunday, three days after it rammed into a snow-covered mountain peak, apparently killing all 104 people on board.

Fog, freezing temperatures and up to 2.5 meters (eight feet) of snow were thwarting efforts by the rescue workers to reach the crash site of the Boeing 737-200, which was finally located Saturday about 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Kabul, in the Khake Jaebar mountains.

But the heavy snow falls were blocking the Afghan army and police to reach the crash site.

Officials believe none of the 96 passengers and eight crew - at least 24 of them foreigners - survived the air disaster, expected to be Afghanistan's deadliest.

On Sunday, NATO said its helicopters ferried Slovenian mountain rescue teams to the site, some 3,300 meters (11,000 feet) up Chaperi Mountain, but by late afternoon had failed to land.

The alliance released a photograph of what appeared to be part of the plane's white tail fin jutting from the snow. No other wreckage or bodies could be seen.

NATO spokeswoman Maj. Karen Tissot Van Patot said that the landing zone was very difficult due to the steepness of the terrain as well as the snow.

An AP photographer and a dozen Afghan intelligence service agents with a local guide slogged for hours through the snow on foot but were defeated by the distance and weather.

A convoy of German armoured vehicles also turned back after forging a path along a mountain road.

Some 50 centimetres (1.5 feet) of snow had fallen overnight, on top of up to two meters (6.5 feet) already covering the mountainside, and temperatures had dropped to about minus 12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit), Patot
said.

Gen. Mahbub Amiri, an Afghan police commander coordinating the search from a village at the foot of the mountain, said said that the main problem during the search was the weather and that any improvement on the conditions would allow his men to reach the site very quickly.

He added that he had more than 300 officers in position, but couldn't send them up the slopes because of poor visibility.


The airline believes the plane turned away from Kabul airport toward the Pakistani border city of Peshawar in search of an easier landing, but hit more bad weather.

Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ] ​​
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]


You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]

свернуть