Wreckage of Kam Air aircraft found in Afghanistan

Airline Industry Information, Feb 4, 2005

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

The wreckage of a Kam Air aircraft has been found near Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

The Boeing 737-200, which had been carrying 104 passengers, was found near the capital a day after it went missing after having been turned away from Kabul airport due to bad weather. A security source who spoke to Reuters about the wreckage being found did not say whether there were any survivors.

The flight was on its way from Herat to Kabul when it went missing yesterday (3 February). Afghanistan's deputy interior minister Shah Mahmoud Miakhel previously told Reuters that the aircraft may have been lacking sufficient fuel to get as far as an airport in Pakistan. The Kam Air financial controller Zimarai Kamgar said the aircraft had contacted Peshawar airport in north-western Pakistan about an hour after it was turned away from Kabul and that it was given clearance to land, but it never arrived. Pakistani aviation officials have said that the aircraft never entered their airspace. The aircraft was seen on radar for the last time about 3.1 miles east of Kabul, The Associated Press reported.

According to Kam Air's deputy director Feda Mohammed Fedayi, at least seven of the 96 passengers were foreigners and six of the eight crew members were from Kyrgyzstan. The Kabul representative of US non-profit group Management Sciences for Health, William Schiffbauer, said that the foreigners on the aircraft included three American women working for a Massachusetts-based company. Apparently there were also five international aid workers on board, while Turkey has said there were nine of its nationals on the aircraft and Italy has said there was one Italian. The US embassy has said that it is still checking on how many US nationals were on the aircraft.

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