Spanish Waltzer
10th Sep 2005, 15:40
From CNN:
Two dead as military aircraft crashes in Cyprus village
09-10-2005, 13h14
NICOSIA (AFP)
Two Cypriot military personnel were killed after their training aircraft clipped a church belltower and crashed into a village home.
There were no casualties on the ground as the house, owned by a British couple, was empty at the time.
But witnesses in the village of Kolossi, west of the island's second city of Limassol, said the two-seater PC-9 Pilatus plane was burned almost beyond recognition.
"This is another tragic event with two dead," Defence Minister Kyriacos Mavronicolas told public television on Saturday.
"An investigation is already under way and we express our sincerest condolences."
The defence ministry later named the dead as Squadron Leader Feraios Koulloumos and his co-pilot Second Lieutenant Photis Constantinou.
The Swiss-built aircraft, one of two used by the military for training purposes, was taking part in a three-day exercise in the area.
The village lies hard by the British air base of Akrotiri and British firefighters and medics were rushed to the crash scene to help Cypriot emergency teams.
"This was a real joint effort with Cypriot authorities," said British bases spokesman Dennis Barnes.
The plane came down just 200 metres (yards) from Kolossi Castle, a Crusader keep from the 13th century that is now a major tourist attraction.
"The plane was flying over Kolossi castle when it appeared to touch a church belfry, then went another 50 yards and clipped the roof of the first house and crashed in the back garden of a second house, burst into flames and went up into a big fireball," said Barnes.
He said the aircraft was "unrecognisable" except for a tyre and the odd piece of wreckage.
The accident came less than a month after 121 people were killed, nearly all of them Cypriots, when an airliner operated by the island's only private carrier Helios Airways crashed outside Athens.
It was Cyprus's worst military air accident since 2002 when five senior officers, including National Guard commander Evangelos Florakis, were killed in a helicopter crash outside the western resort of Paphos.
Well done those at Akrotiri and condolences to those involved. Not a good month for Cyprus aviation
:(
Two dead as military aircraft crashes in Cyprus village
09-10-2005, 13h14
NICOSIA (AFP)
Two Cypriot military personnel were killed after their training aircraft clipped a church belltower and crashed into a village home.
There were no casualties on the ground as the house, owned by a British couple, was empty at the time.
But witnesses in the village of Kolossi, west of the island's second city of Limassol, said the two-seater PC-9 Pilatus plane was burned almost beyond recognition.
"This is another tragic event with two dead," Defence Minister Kyriacos Mavronicolas told public television on Saturday.
"An investigation is already under way and we express our sincerest condolences."
The defence ministry later named the dead as Squadron Leader Feraios Koulloumos and his co-pilot Second Lieutenant Photis Constantinou.
The Swiss-built aircraft, one of two used by the military for training purposes, was taking part in a three-day exercise in the area.
The village lies hard by the British air base of Akrotiri and British firefighters and medics were rushed to the crash scene to help Cypriot emergency teams.
"This was a real joint effort with Cypriot authorities," said British bases spokesman Dennis Barnes.
The plane came down just 200 metres (yards) from Kolossi Castle, a Crusader keep from the 13th century that is now a major tourist attraction.
"The plane was flying over Kolossi castle when it appeared to touch a church belfry, then went another 50 yards and clipped the roof of the first house and crashed in the back garden of a second house, burst into flames and went up into a big fireball," said Barnes.
He said the aircraft was "unrecognisable" except for a tyre and the odd piece of wreckage.
The accident came less than a month after 121 people were killed, nearly all of them Cypriots, when an airliner operated by the island's only private carrier Helios Airways crashed outside Athens.
It was Cyprus's worst military air accident since 2002 when five senior officers, including National Guard commander Evangelos Florakis, were killed in a helicopter crash outside the western resort of Paphos.
Well done those at Akrotiri and condolences to those involved. Not a good month for Cyprus aviation
:(