Slovak troops react to crash of military plane

SHOTLIST

1. Wide shot Slovak military camp
2. Military trucks driving inside camp
3. Sign reading "Czech/Slovak battle group - Camp Sajkovac"
4. Soldier at entrance of camp
5. KFOR (NATO Kosovo Force) military vehicle at camp gate
6. Various of Slovak soldier putting flags at half mast
7. Various Slovak commander Lt. Col Gabric Kerekes talking to soldiers
8. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Lieutenant Colonel Gabric Kerekes, Commander, Eighth Slovak Battalion
"Yesterday we said farewell to a group of our soldiers who were returning home on a flight from Pristina airport which left at around 17:00. Later we learned about the sad event. All members of our contingent are sad about what has happened and we express our condolences to the families of the deceased soldiers."
9. NATO flag at half mast
10. Various soldiers and vehicles in camp

STORYLINE

Flags at a Slovak contingent base in the village of Sajkovac, 35 kilometres northeast of Pristina, flew at half mast on Friday, in memory of those who died when a military plane travelling from Kosovo crashed.

Lieutenant Colonel Gabric Kerekes, commander of the Eighth Slovak Battalion said all at the military camp had been saddened by news of the crash adding "we express our condolences to the families of the deceased soldiers".

At least 42 people were killed when the AN-24 aircraft went down near the Slovak border in northeastern Hungary on Thursday.

Rescuers on Friday recovered 21 bodies from the mountainside where the plane came down.

Only one person survived.

The Hungarian defence minister said the survivor, who suffered head wounds and burns, was in "satisfactory" condition at a hospital in the Slovak city of Kosice, about 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the crash site.

He said the survivor, whose identity was not released, was able to call his wife on his cellular phone from the scene of the accident.

Among the plane's passengers were Slovak soldiers returning from a NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, the defence minister said.

National police spokesman Laszlo Garamvolgyi said there were 45 people on board the plane and that all but one died.

Those on board included seven crew members and 38 passengers, he said.

However, a spokesman for Hungary's national catastrophe rescue service said there were 43 people on board the plane, based on a passenger list provided by the Slovak embassy in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

That included 35 passengers who all had some kind of military rank and eight crew members, he said.

The discrepancy could not be immediately explained

The plane ploughed through trees along a 600-metre (yard) stretch before slamming into the mountainside.

Air traffic controllers lost sight of the aircraft just after 1930 local time (1830 GMT) and authorities began receiving reports of a crash from eyewitnesses shortly thereafter.

A second Slovak military aircraft, an AN-26 flying a few minutes behind - was able to see the burning remains of the crashed plane on the ground.

The Czech news agency CTK reported that the Slovak army had sent a helicopter to the crash site, but that it was unable to land because of bad weather.

Officials ruled out a terrorist attack as a possible cause of the crash, but said it would take up to two months until a full report was completed.


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