This Article is From Apr 12, 2010

Russian investigators point to human error for plane crash

Russian investigators point to human error for plane crash
Moscow:

Russianinvestigators on Monday pointed to possible human error on the part of thepilot of Tu-154 aircraft for the crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynskiand 95 others, while ruling out any technical problems with the Soviet-eraplane.

 

The pilot of thePolish presidential plane was warned of the bad weather conditions and wasadvised by air-traffic controllers to land elsewhere, officials said, two daysafter the crash in Smolensk.

 

"The readingsconfirm that there were no problems with the plane, and that the pilot wasinformed about the difficult weather conditions, but nevertheless decided toland," Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Bastrykin said during abriefing.

 

Investigators woulddouble-check the readings of the flight recorder, he added.

 

Meanwhile, there werereports of more bodies lying trapped in the wreckage of the plane.

 

"Work is ongoingto build an access route for heavy machinery which will be used to raise themajor parts of the aircraft and remove the remaining bodies," chiefprosecutor Andrzej Seremet told reporters, adding eighty-seven bodies havealready been located.

 

The body of PresidentKaczynski was identified by his twin brother Jaroslaw and flown to Warsawyesterday, while his wife Maria Kaczynska's body was identified on Monday and isset to be repatriated tomorrow.

 

Investigators arestill searching for the remains of the victims that could be scattered aroundthe site or buried in the ground rather than in the wreckage of the plane.

 

Quoting a sourceconnected with the operation, Ria-Novosti said several fragments of bodies werediscovered at the site yesterday after presumably all remains of the victimshad been removed from the wreckage and sent to Moscow.

 

A special flight fromWarsaw carrying the first batch of relatives of passengers arrived hereovernight.

 

Polish HealthMinister Ewa Kopacz said most of the bodies were beyond recognition and"their identification required DNA tests".

 

"Only 14 bodiesof the victims could be identified by relatives without problems. Another 20bodies could be identified by forensic experts, while DNA testing would be necessaryto confirm the identity of the rest of the victims," he said.

 

The Moscow citygovernment has reserved 400 rooms in three hotels and will bear all theexpenses of the relatives of the crash victims during their stay here, MoscowMayor Yuri Luzhkov told TV channels.

 

Thousands of Russianshave been coming to the Polish Embassy in Moscow and diplomatic missions in StPetersburg and Kaliningrad to pay their last respects to Lech Kaczynski and othervictims by laying flowers, lighting candles and signing condolence book.

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