Military plane crashes in Kentucky; no fatalaties
MARION, Ky. - Feb 18, 1998 3:48 p.m. EST - A military plane
crashed in a field in rural Kentucky Wednesday, police said.
"It was a military plane. We don't know what type. There are
survivors. We have no reports of fatalities," a dispatcher at
the Marion Police Department said.
(Marion is in western Kentucky, between Madisonville and Paducah.
More when available. Jim
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REPORT: MARINE JET DID NOT HAVE MAP SHOWING SKI LIFT
The New York Times reports that the Marine Corps jet that killed
20 people when it clipped a ski-lift cable in Italy did not have a
map that showed the lift because the Pentagon has a policy against
using maps made by other nations. The Times also reports that the
pilot was violating Pentagon rules by failing to fly 1,000 feet above
the ground. A joint Italian-American commission is investigating
whether the jet's crew or commanding officer should face charges in
the case.
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Update
Taiwanese government urged to pull out of airline
TAIPEI, Taiwan - Feb 18, 1998 09:18 a.m. EST -- Lawmakers urged
the government Wednesday to unload its majority share in China Air-
lines, charging that a confused business structure led to lax
management at the company involved in Taiwan's worst plane crash.
All 196 people aboard China Airlines Flight CI676 and seven
people on the ground were killed Monday when the twin-engine Airbus
300 crashed in flames near the runway of Taipei's airport.
The government-controlled China Airlines Foundation owns 71.5
percent of China Airlines, although shares are also traded on the
Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The chairman of the foundation, Hsu Li-teh, called for the gov-
ernment to dump its stake.
"None of the share owners really feel it's their company," Hsu
said. "Management of China Airlines under such conditions is
extremely difficult."
Opposition and even some ruling Nationalist Party legislators
went further, calling for the foundation to be dissolved.
The foundation's board of directors has no governmental over-
sight and enjoys immunity from lawsuits, which has led to lax corp-
orate culture and slack safety standards, said Chen Chi-mai, a
member of the legislature's Transportation Committee.
China Airlines' chairman, Chiang Hung-yi, already has offered
his resignation over the crash. The company's stock prices have
fallen about 10 percent since Monday.
The dead were said to include four Americans. In Boston, two
were identified as 28-year-old fitness trainer Chris Cory and 35-
year-old Kenneth Cowan, an associate producer at WGBH-TV.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese officials and representatives of Airbus
searched the rural site for clues to the cause of the crash.
The jet that crashed Monday was delivered by Airbus to China
Airlines in December 1990. It had accumulated 20,070 flight hours.
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Search for bodies at crash site ends
MANILA, Philippines -- Feb 18, 1998 09:54 a.m. EST -- Rescuers
on Wednesday ended their search for bodies on a thickly forested
Philippine mountain ridge where a DC-9 jet with 104 people aboard
crashed two weeks ago.
Troops and volunteers cleared the crash site of human remains,
said Jesus Dureza, chief of the rescue committee for the Feb. 2
crash. Soldiers will guard plane parts for investigators of the
Philippines' worst air disaster.
There were no survivors in the crash of the Cebu Pacific Air
plane, which was traveling from the capital, Manila, to Cagayan de
Oro, a city in the southern Philippines.
Only 27 of the passengers and crew, including three foreigners,
have been identified, officials said.
Government and airline officials are continuing talks with the
crash victims' relatives over the possibility of burying the un-
identified body parts in a common grave. Dureza said. A marker is
planned at the crash site, about 28 miles from Cagayan de Oro on
the main southern island of Mindanao.
The plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have
been sent to Canada for analysis. Members of the U.S. National
Transportation Safety Board are helping in the investigation.
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Afghanistan Earthquake
Two helicopters and a cargo plane delivered supplies to
thousands of earthquake victims in Afghanistan today. Getting
aid to the region has been extremely difficult.
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--- DB 1.39/004487
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* Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1)
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