Antonov aircraft grounded for now in Sri Lanka

By V.S.Sambandan

COLOMBO, APRIL 2. Civil aviation and Air Force authorities in Sri Lanka have temporarily grounded all Antonov aircraft, after two such aircraft crashed in the island last week, killing 50 people, 36 of whom were Government troopers who were returning from a northern airbase for medical treatment.

The order came in the immediate aftermath of a crash on Thursday of an AN-26 aircraft, which was returning from Palaly in the northern Jaffna peninsula. The aircraft crashed south of the North Central town of Anuradhapura, killing 36 soldiers and four Ukrainian crewmen. On March 24, 10 persons were feared killed after an Antonov cargo-carrier from Bangkok crashed.

According to the Sunday Times, the decision to ground the AN aircraft was pending completion of inquiries, which would take at least several weeks as the black-boxes would have to be ``taken to the manufacturers to understand the communication which is done in Russian,'' it reported.

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Section  : International
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