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UN repatriating 11 victims of Haiti plane crash
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 10 - 10 - 2009

PARISIEN, Haiti, October 10 , SPA -- U.N. helicopters on Saturday
reached the remote site of a plane crash that killed 11
peacekeepers when a surveillance flight slammed into a
mountain in eastern Haiti, AP reported.
All onboard died after the CASA C-212 twin engine
turboprop aircraft went down Friday afternoon near the
border with the Dominican Republic, about 30 miles (45
kilometers) from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
The plane came to rest on an isolated mountainside near a
farming town called Peyi Mouri, meaning «dead country» in
Haitian Creole.
Two U.N. helicopters were able to land near the site
Saturday morning and peacekeepers began the process of
bringing bodies back to Port-au-Prince, mission spokesman
David Wimhurst said.
The victims were Uruguayan and Jordanian troops serving
with the 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force that has been
in Haiti since a 2004 rebellion ousted former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Six Uruguayan soldiers were killed
in the crash, including the pilot and co-pilot, Uruguay's
minister of defense told local media.
Wimhurst would not speculate on when results of an
investigation into the cause of the crash would become
available.
«The investigation will take some time. ... Any air crash
requires experts to analyze it,» he said.
The mountainous border area between Haiti and the
Dominican Republic, where Uruguayan plane was flying, is
rife with drug and human smuggling.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission, which is expected to be
renewed for a sixth year when its mandate expires Oct. 15,
has been shifting its focus to the border region in recent
years. The international community also has been helping
the rebuilding Haitian national police force to strengthen
its presence here.
A U.N. statement said the aircraft was on «a regular
reconnaissance flight.» It was unclear why the plane was
doing surveillance near the border or how often such
flights take place.
Through a spokesperson, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
extended «his heartfelt condolences to the family members,
friends and colleagues of these brave peacekeepers.»
The U.N. Security Council on Saturday expressed «deep
distress and shock» at the crash and conveyed its sympathy
and condolences to the families of those who lost their
lives.
With no roads near the crash site, and rescuers initially
had to clamber overland to reach it and confirm there were
no survivors.
The area is a regular transit point for South American
cocaine passing through Haiti and the Dominican Republic on
its way to Europe and North America.
Haitian migrants are brought across the porous border,
often illegally, to work in Dominican construction, tourism
and agriculture.


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