DIVERS SEARCH FOR 113 PEOPLE KILLED IN CRASH OF ARMENIAN AIRLINER
Mike Eckel
AP Worldstream
May 03, 2006
Divers searched storm-churned waters off Russia’s Black Sea coast
Wednesday, searching for the remains of 113 people who were killed
when an Armenian passenger airliner crashed in rough weather as it
was heading for a landing, emergency officials said.
It was the worst air disaster in Armenia’s recent history.
Armenian airline officials said they believed the crash was due to the
stormy weather, and Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman
Viktor Beltsov said that this was considered the likeliest cause. He
said that the clouds were as low as 100 meters (330 feet) above the
ground at the time of the crash.
Earlier, Russian officials said that the age of the aircraft and
technical factors could have been involved. Investigators did not
believe terrorism was a factor.
The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia,
disappeared from radar screens just under 6 kilometers (3.7 miles)
from the shore and crashed after making a turn and heading toward the
Adler airport near the Russian resort of Sochi, Beltsov said. Rescue
officials in the ministry’s southern regional branch said the 105
passengers and eight crew members aboard the plane flying from the
Armenian capital Yerevan, including six children, were all killed.
Gurgen Seroboyan, whose 23-year-old fiancee Lucenie Gevorkian was a
flight attendant on the flight, wept as he waited at Yerevan airport
for a charter flight that was to take relatives of the crash victims
to Sochi.
Samvel Oganesian said his 23-year-old son Vram and his friend Hamlet
Abgarian had been heading to Sochi for vacation.
“Why did he go?” Oganesian asked in anguish, over and over again.
In Sochi’s airport, about 100 tearful relatives _ nearly all
Armenians _ kept up an anguished vigil in a waiting hall. One man
became hysterical and had to be taken away by ambulance.
Women, sobbing, held handkerchiefs to their mouths, while men sat
silently, their heads in their hands.
Aram Sargasian, 22, said he had two uncles on the ill-fated plane
who had been heading to Sochi for a weeklong vacation. The city has
a large ethnic Armenian population.
“I adored them. This is all like a dream,” he said, shaking his head.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian President Robert
Kocharian declared Friday a day of mourning in both countries, the
Kremlin said.
Wreckage from the plane was found not far from the shoreline, Beltsov
said, and Sergei Kudinov, the head of the southern district office
of the Emergency Situations Ministry, said the fuselage was found at
a depth of 400 meters (1,300 feet).
Search and rescue teams have pulled 33 bodies from the water,
regional emergency officials said; none was wearing a life jacket,
indicating they did not have sufficient warning to prepare for an
emergency landing.
The airline said that 26 Russians, one Ukrainian and one Georgian
were among the passengers. The rest were Armenian citizens.
Twenty-five boats as well as divers were involved in the search,
and a deep-sea robot was to be used to try to recover the plane’s
black box, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. But a Russian
aviation official, Rudolf Teymurazov of the Intergovernmental Aviation
Committee, expressed doubt the black boxes could be found since some
parts of the plane could be as deep as 2 kilometers (1 mile).
“If the black boxes are located not in some segment of the plane,
but on the (sea) bottom, then it will be impossible to find them,”
the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
The water temperature was 12 degrees Celsius (53 F).
The plane broke up on impact with the water and passengers’ personal
belongings and plane fragments were found scattered over an area
spreading 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the crash site.
Rough seas, driving rain and low visibility were hampering the search,
Russian news agencies reported.
Beltsov said the plane, which disappeared from radar screens at about
2:15 a.m. (2215 GMT Tuesday, went down while trying to make a repeat
attempt at an emergency landing. However, the Interfax news agency
quoted the Russian air control agency as saying that the plane’s crew
had not declared any emergency.
Armavia deputy commercial director Andrei Agadzhanov said in Yerevan
that the crew had communicated with Sochi ground controllers while
the plane was flying over the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. The ground
controllers said the weather was poor but the plane could still land,
the representative said. Just before the landing, however, the ground
controllers told the crew to make another circle in the air before
approaching the airport.
He said the crew was highly experienced, the airplane was in good
condition and that weather conditions were “certainly” the cause.
The Airbus A-320 was manufactured in 1995 and had been acquired on
leasing by the airline. The aircraft underwent full-scale servicing
a year ago.
Agadzhanov said that the airline’s deputy general director, Vyacheslav
Yaralov, had been aboard.
Investigators from the airline and Armenian and French aviation
authorities were to fly to the crash scene later Wednesday morning.
Armavia is Armenia’s largest airline. It is 70-percent owned by
Russia’s second-largest airline Sibir, and it acquired routes from
Armenian Airlines and Armenian International Airlines when those
operations fell into financial troubles.
________
AP reporters Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, and Sergei Venyavsky
in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, contributed to this story.

“NO EVIDENCE OF TERRORISM” IN SOCHI AIR CRASH – RUSSIAN TRANSPORT POLICE
NTV Mir, Moscow
3 May 06
Igor Zhukov, the head of the North Caucasus Ministry of Internal
Affairs transport department, has told a news conference that terrorism
can be ruled out as a cause of the crash of an Armavia Airbus A320 in
the sea off the Russian southern resort of Sochi, Russian NTV Mir’s
“Segodnya” news reported on 3 May.
“There is no evidence of terrorism. It may be pilot error or some
technical failure or a ground services failure or something wrong
with the aircraft, but in no way can we say this is a case of
terrorism. That is the most important thing,” the TV news showed
him saying.
The same bulletin showed Armavia spokeswoman Zhazmin Vilyan talking to
the media at Armenia’s Zvartnots airport: “According to our initial
reckoning, there were 26 Russian citizens among the passengers, one
from Georgia and one from Ukraine. That’s our initial summary. We
are clarifying the list now,” she said.

“THE PEOPLE MISS SOCIALISM”, – THE COMMUNISTS OF MAY PARADE WERE SURE
Margaret Yesayan
Aravot.am
02 May 06
The Communistic Party of Armenia celebrated yesterday the International
Day of Labors Solidarity. Other parties weren’t celebrating the
occasion; they perhaps consider the day of labors as remains of
communism and left the square for the communists. But if every
oppositionist party was able to gather the same quantity of people
as the communists did Ruben Tovmasian’s dream of last 15 years would
come true and socialism would enter with a new power. But as usual
the oppositionists were impeded by their ambitions and fear of being
considered not free, that’s why they didn’t join their friends. The
communists with red flags, red ties and red bands were walking on
Mashtots avenue. Some hundreds of people, more than 1000, crying
thunderous ”hurrah”s and ”viva”-s reached the Republic Square. But
they declared that they were reaching the Lenin Square. Just at that
moment the Central Committee Secretary was declaring by microphone;
”The communists of Armenia are entering into the square”. It
seemed you were in other time zone and not in the 6th year of the
21st century. It seems the participants of that parade have come
from 60-70’s. They weren’t even hide that they dream of socialism and
again consider as the number one enemy ”the system in the person of
the USA which spread anticommunist, antidemocratic hysteria. Just it
craves of becoming the tyrant of the world by cannibal globalization
and aggression.”
The colonel Daniel Tadevosian has come to the parade with all his
medals and persuasion; ”We must bring the socialism back for the
people live equally as it was during socialism. I don’t say there
weren’t mistakes at that time but who has built this city?” A lot of
pupils from the schools of Masis N3 and Normarg village came to May
parade with red ties. A communist woman who was leading them declared
that the pupils like the pioneer order but there are also people who
prohibit the restoration of the past.
Comrade Haroutiunian is sure that there are two parties in Armenia;
“One is the communistic party, the other is anticommunist party,
that is, the remain are anticommunist parties”.
Communists of some regions were brought to the capital for taking part
in the parade. The “Communistic Party of Leninakan”, “Communists of
Kirovakan”, ” Workers of Lenin region of Yerevan”, “Comrades from
Hoktemberian” and a lot of pioneers were here yesterday. A real
festive mood, which reached till the comrade Myasnikian monument. It
was written on some of posters; “Forever with Russia”. To our question
again Russia when the same Russia took our property instead of gas,
debt and don’t know for what else, comrade Tovmasian answered;
“We have always condemned and condemn that the people’s property
is being sold whoever it is sold, even to Russia, but we sell it
ourselves. And it is more profitable that Russia buys it and not
other countries”. A heap of red flags remained in the grass.
–Boundary_(ID_r1sUKfph3F2UuB2l0ExgyA)–

TO BE ON THE OPEN ATTACK OF “UNFREE”
Tigran Avetisian
Aravot.am
02 May 06
There is no international organization, which mark the degree of the
freedom of the press, which said some positive words to the address
of Armenia in last two years. The establishments round the CIC,
aren’t counted, of course.
”Unfree”. Here the true stamp which sounds like a decree which
is put down our foreheads from time to time. But it seems that the
people who are responsible for that don’t worry about. Perhaps with
the help of having political immunity. The most pitiful thing is
that the society can’t understand why they need in the freedom of
the press in this so called transitional period. And the days like
“April 12” come to terror people and assure them that free speech in
our country is dangerous for the health and life.
As a result, the following intention becomes dominant; “We hardly get
on with, what do we do that freedom of the speech”. While the freedom
of the speech has very useful meaning for which we must “fight”. Let’s
imagine that true reports are broadcasted and published about corrupted
officials, narrow-minded deputies and oligarchs all day long. Be sure
that the society will be self cleaned and the life will become fairer
and more bearable.
–Boundary_(ID_sjzbaYgM0y8rdg/JYKXWrw)- –

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND THE BLACK BOX
Lragir.am
03 May 06
It is practically impossible to find the black box of the A-320 plane
of Armavia Airlines, state the experts, working in the place of the
crash. A-320, flying from Yerevan to Sochi, crashed on May 3 in the
morning, near the city of Adler, 5 km from the coast of the Black
Sea. The experts say the plane fell in a place where the bottom makes
it impossible to find anything. Rudolf Teymurazov, the head of the
center of air transport investigation, Interstate Aviation Committee,
stated this. “I do not believe that it is possible to find anything
on the bottom at one km from the coast,” said Teymurazov. The work of
the rescuers is made much difficult by the bad weather, as well as the
depth. The depth of the sea in the place of the crash is 300-400 m,
whereas the divers cannot go deeper than 200 m. However, the Russian
Ministry of Emergencies says if necessity occurs, robots will be
used, which can work at such a depth. Rescuing is carried out within
a range of 2.5 km with the depth of the sea 500-2500 m. By half past
two on May 3 the rescuers had found 46 bodies.

VICTIMS OF THE CRASH TO GET 20 THOUSAND DOLLARS
Lragir.am
03 May 06
The A-320 plane of Armavia, which crashed on May 3 when flying from
Yerevan to Sochi, the passengers and the crew were insured with the
Armenian Grand Insurance Company, said the deputy director of the
company Artak Antonyan to Interfax. According to him, the families of
the victims will receive 20 thousand dollars each. The size of the
compensation for the plane A-320 will be decided after the experts
give their assessment. Grand Company insured its risks with a big
British insurance company, but Artak Antonyan did not specify the
company. He added that the agent of the British company has already
been invited to Armenia. The compensation will be paid in case all the
rules of maintenance of the aircraft were observed. Armavia Airlines
declined to give any information about insurance.

Plane Crashes in Russia With 113 Aboard
By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Associated Press
May 2, 2006
MOSCOW – An Armenian passenger plane crashed in stormy weather early
Wednesday off Russia’s Black Sea coast as it was headed in for a
landing, killing all 113 people on board, emergency officials said.
The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia,
disappeared from radar screens about four miles from the shore and
crashed after making a turn toward the Adler airport near the southern
Russian city of Sochi, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor
Beltsov said. Rescue officials in the ministry’s southern regional
branch said all 113 people aboard the plane, including six children,
were killed.
Armavia officials said they believed the crash was due to the weather,
but Sergei Kubinov, regional head of the Emergency Situations Ministry,
said the age of the aircraft and technical problems could have been
involved.
Investigators did not believe terrorism was a factor.
Relatives of those aboard the plane were gathering at the Yerevan,
Armenia, airport for a charter flight to Sochi later Wednesday morning.
The plane broke up on impact with the water, and wreckage was thrown
into a wide arc, Kubinov said. Salvage workers said the fuselage was
recovered at a depth of nearly 1,500 feet.
Search and rescue teams had pulled 18 bodies from the water,
Kubinov said.
None were wearing life jackets, indicating they did not have sufficient
warning to prepare for an emergency landing.
Rough seas, driving rain and low visibility were hampering the search,
Russian news agencies reported. A deep-sea robot was to be used to
try to recover the plane’s black box.
The plane disappeared from radar at about 2:15 a.m. local time during
a flight from Yerevan to Sochi, Beltsov said. He said the plane went
down while trying to make a repeat attempt at an emergency landing;
the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian air control agency as
saying that the plane’s crew had not reported an emergency.
Andrei Agadzhanov, Armavia’s deputy commercial director, said the
crew had communicated with Sochi ground controllers while the plane
was flying over the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. The ground controllers
reported stormy weather but told the crew the plane could still land,
he said.
Just before the landing, however, the ground controllers told the
plane’s pilots to circle again before approaching the airport. Then
the plane crashed.
Agadzhanov said that the airline’s deputy general director, Vyacheslav
Yaralov, had been aboard. He said the crew was experienced and that
the bad weather was “certainly” the cause.
___
AP reporters Avet Demourian in Yerevan and Sergei Venyavsky in
Rostov-on-Don, Russia contributed to this story.

Armenian jet crashes near Sochi
BBC NEWS:
europe/4967464.stm
2006/05/03 01:09:04 GMT
A passenger airplane flying from Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, to the
city of Sochi in southern Russia has crashed over the Black Sea,
officials say.
The Airbus 320 plane from Armenian Airlines was carrying about 100
people, when it disappeared from radar screens about 0215 (2215GMT
Tuesday).
Debris has been seen in the sea, about 6km (four miles) from the coast,
says Russia’s Emergencies Ministry.
Bad weather conditions are making the search for survivors difficult.
Life jackets have been found in the accident area, although no people
have been found, said deputy head of Russia’s Emergency Situations
Ministry, Viktor Beltsov.
Among those on board were eight crew and five children, he said.
Sochi is a popular Russian seaside resort, near the border with
Georgia.

CBC News, Canada
May 3 2006
No survivors after Armenian Airlines plane crashes into Black Sea
Last Updated Tue, 02 May 2006 23:06:22 EDT
CBC News
An Armenian Airlines plane carrying more than 100 people has crashed
into the Black Sea, just off the Russian coast. Emergency officials
say there are no survivors.
The accident happened near the resort city of Sochi in southern Russia.
Local media report that debris has been found in the water six
kilometres offshore. One report says the body of a woman – a passenger
on the plane – as well as lifejackets have been recovered from the sea.
The flight originated in Yerevan, Armenia and was to have landed
in Sochi.
But the Itar-Tass news agency reported that the aircraft, an Airbus
320, disappeared from radar screens as it was making its approach.
The plane was carrying 112 passengers and crew members.
Russian emergency officials said all of the people on board the plane
were killed in the accident.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTED 7 DRAFT LAWS
ArmRadio.am
02.05.2006 17:35
Today the regular four-day sittings started at the National
Assembly. The agenda includes more than 50 questions and 13
international agreement presented for ratification by RA President.
Before starting discussion of the agenda questions, the Parliament
adopted 7 draft laws discussed during the previous four-day
sitting. These envisage amendments in Laws in force.