"Search for Afghan plane to resume at dawn; American among 44 passengers on flight to Kabul" by Jamey Keaten, Associated Press | May 18, 2010
SALANG PASS, Afghanistan — Dense fog hindered rescuers who fanned out across mountainous terrain yesterday to search for the wreckage of an Afghan passenger plane that vanished with 44 people on board. There was no immediate word of casualties.
One American was among six foreigners on board, the State Department confirmed. The passenger was not immediately identified.
So who did the CIA want dead?
After receiving tips from local residents who heard a loud bang, Afghan authorities rushed to the Salang Pass, a major route through the Hindu Kush mountains that connects the capital to the north.
Late last night, officials said they suspected the plane may have gone down farther south, closer to its destination of Kabul International Airport. A search was to be undertaken in that area at daybreak.
The plane, operated by Pamir Airways, a private Afghan airline, was traveling from Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to the capital. Myar Rasooli, the head of Kabul airport, said air traffic controllers’ last contact with the plane was when it was about 55 miles north of Kabul. He said there was no distress call from the plane.
The British Embassy in Kabul said three British citizens were aboard the plane, but did not identify them. The nationalities of the two other foreigners were not immediately available....
At the request of the Afghan government, NATO dispatched a fixed-wing plane to the last known position of the aircraft. Captain Robert Leese, a spokesman for the NATO air unit assisting in the search, said the US plane got within 4 miles of the suspected crash site, but had to turn back because of bad weather.
“The fog was so bad you couldn’t tell where the mountain began and the fog ended,’’ Leese said.
Then maybe it was just an accident.
NATO helicopters were on standby at Bagram Air Field and at the Kabul airport to assist in any rescue effort, NATO said in a statement. The Afghan Defense Ministry also ordered the nation’s air force to be on standby. Ambulances were dispatched to the pass.
When low cloud cover and fog hampered the aerial search, about 70 rescue workers began ascending the mountains on foot to hunt for the wreckage. That foot patrol, which included the governor of Parwan Province, descended the mountains about an hour later after authorities began to suspect that the plane had traveled farther south toward Kabul before going down....
Also see: Wreckage of Afghan airliner spotted
No survivors found at Afghan crash site
Root around in my Plane Crashes file and after a while you will see why I no longer believe anything the MSM says about plane crashes -- or anything else these days.
