Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, October 26, 2000
Nation/World
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
Russian military plane crashes
75 people feared dead after bad weather forces an attempted landing
The Associated Press
TBILLSI, Georgia — A Russian Defense Ministry plane with at least 75 passengers and crew slammed into a mountain while trying to land in bad weather yesterday evening in the country of Georgia. Officials said everyone on board was feared dead.
A search and rescue team sent to the crash site about 15 miles east of the city of Batumi found pieces of the plane and scorched earth, Georgia's Emergency Situations Department said. Russia's RTR television reported that bodies had been found and showed footage of flaming pieces of wreckage.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
The plane veered off course on approach in difficult weather conditions, said Alexander Silagadze, head of the civil aviation agency Sakaeronavigatsiya.
It was unclear exactly how many people were on board. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said the plane carried 82 people — 11 crew members and 71 passengers — but Russian military officials said there were 11 crew members and 64 passengers, the Interfax news agency reported.
russian military officials said the plane, an I-18 transport, was at an altitude of 5,300 feet near Mount Tirva when communications with it were lost. Interfax reported. Both military and civilian personnel were aboard, the agency said.
Mount Tirava means "Weeping Mountain" in Georgian, RTR said.
Interfax said passengers aboard the plane included servicemen and their wives and children returning from vacation. Although Russia and Georgia became independent countries when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, Russianstill maintains troops in Georgia.
A representative for the Georgian emergency department said on condition of anonymity that it was unlikely anyone survived.
The plane was flying from the Chkalovsky military airfield outside Moscow to Batumi, home to a Russian military base. It was a mail plane that made twice-monthly flights along the route, military officials said.
The Russian emergencies ministry was sending a plane carrying a search and rescue team, and an investigation committee had been formed.
Russia is in the process of removing its troops and equipment from two bases in Georgia and is negotiating withdrawal from two more. Equipment from the bases is being shipped through Batumi.
The II-18 is a Russian-made, four-engine turboprop. In 1997, an II-18 owned by a private Russian carrier crashed on a charter flight while trying to take off in Johannesburg, South Africa. All five people survived, and the reason for the crash was not determined.
The II-18 model, which can seat up to 100 first flew in 1957, and production ceased in 1970. The plane was used as a submarine hunter and airborne command post by the Russian military and as a passenger plane by the Soviet national airline Aeroflot.
Pentagon official resigns says he warned of attacks
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A Pentagon intelligence expert on terrorism in the Persian Gulf has told Congress that he warned of possible terrorist attacks on U.S. forces there before the bombing of the USS Cole, but higher-ups failed to pass the information to military commanders, senators said yesterday.
The intelligence official, whose name was not disclosed, resigned in protest the day after the Cole attack Oct. 12 in Yemen, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Roberts said the resignation letter was given Monday to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Although it is not classified, the Armed Services Committee said it would not make it public.
Yemeni authorities investigating the bombing, meanwhile, have detained a Yemeni carpenter and a Somali woman. Yemeni sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said yesterday the carpenter
ON THE NET:
■ U.S. Central Command:
  http://www.centcom.mil/
■ The USS Cole:
  http://www.spear.navy.mil/ships/ddg67
confessed to helping two men modify a small boat to carry explosives, and the woman confessed to buying the car they used to haul the boat to shore, paying for it with money the two men provided. Charges had not been filed against either person, the sources said.
Roberts said the resignation letter referred to an intelligence assessment in June that apparently predicted a terrorist attack in the Gulf.
Roberts said he wanted to know whether the reference to potential for additional acts of terrorism in coming weeks played a role in last weekend's decision to put U.S. forces in Bahrain and Gatar on high alert.
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