News, December 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
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Lebanon opens official investigation into Benin air crash
Jordan Times, Wednesday, December 31, 2003
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon has opened an official investigation into the Christmas Day plane crash in the West African nation of Benin that killed more than 77 Lebanese, Lebanon's transportation minister said Tuesday. Najib Mikati told reporters that a technical committee headed by the director general of civil aviation, Hamdi Al Shouq, has been formed with the task of investigating the circumstances of the crash. The committee will prepare a technical report and follow-up on ongoing investigations in Benin.
At least 130 of 161 passengers and crew died in Thursday's crash of the privately owned Boeing 727. Several more people are missing. The number of survivors was in the low 20s and included the pilot.
The Lebanese-owned Union des Transports Africains plane, which is registered in the West African state of Guinea, hit a building near the airport perimeter in Cotonou just after takeoff and plummeted nearby into the shallow surf just off Benin's Atlantic Ocean coast.
The cause of the crash remains unknown, but Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid has said the plane appeared to have been overloaded with passengers and baggage. Several survivors confirmed the pilot had trouble getting the plane off the ground.
Mikati said Lebanese authorities had twice this year refused to allow a UTA plane to carry passengers to Lebanon after it was found to have technical faults. However, after meeting the technical and safety requirements, the company was allowed in September to start weekly trips between Cotonou and Beirut.
Prosecutor General Adnan Addoum promised Monday to uncover the cause of the crash and said his office will prosecute if it appears that negligence had led to the tragedy.
A French military plane on Sunday brought the bodies of 77 Lebanese who died in the crash. They were buried Monday in their villages in funerals across the country.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03. |
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