Belarussian plane crashes upon takeoff in Armenia: air official

Agence France Presse — English
February 14, 2008 Thursday

YEREVAN, Feb 14 2008

A Belarussian airplane went up in flames on the runway of Yerevan’s
airport while trying to take off, injuring 21 people on board, local
air agency officials told AFP Thursday.

A small CRG airplane, owned by Belarus’s Belavia airline and bound
for Minsk, hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff and erupted
into flames, the state civil aviation agency’s spokeswoman Gayan
Davtian said.

"Airport emergency services reacted quickly and rapidly evacuated the
18 passengers and three crew. No one died, but all of them suffered
burns, some of them severe burns," Davtian said, adding that all were
hospitalised.

Of the passengers, 16 were Armenian nationals, she said.

All flights were cancelled at Yerevan’s airport following the
incident.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS