Posted on 05/06/2007 4:58:14 AM PDT by Int
Nine members of a multinational peacekeeping force, eight of them French, were killed Sunday when their plane crashed while attempting an emergency landing in northern Egypt.
"Nine people on board the plane died in the crash. This included eight French crew members and one Canadian," an Egyptian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) and French military sources said they had received reports that a French transport aircraft belonging to the peacekeeping force had crashed but did not immediately confirm any casualties.
According to Egyptian security sources on the crash site, the light aircraft suffered a technical failure and tried to perform an emergency landing on a road near the town of Nakhl, a remote area in the central Sinai mountains.
One of the plane's wings smashed into a truck carrying large containers, sending the aircraft crashing into a hill, said the sources, quoting the truck's driver, who survived the accident.
"Yes, unfortunately we have had reports of a plane crash. It was a French aircraft carrying eight French crew members. There was one other officer on board whose identity we are still trying to get," the MFO director general's representative, Normand St. Pierre, told AFP.
"It was a training mission and we lost touch with the plane shortly after takeoff," he said.
The French embassy in Cairo said it was still checking the reports and did not immediately confirm any casualties.
The plane was heading south from the northern Sinai airport of Al-Gurah, where the MFO has one of its two bases in the peninsula.
"The two pilots radioed in to report a technical failure and warn that they would attempt an emergency landing, after which we lost contact with them," a source at Al-Gurah airport said.
The Canadian embassy could not immediately confirm the death of one of its nationals.
Witnesses in the area told AFP and Egyptian public television that the plane smashed into a truck as it was attempting its emergency landing before crashing into the side of a mountain.
"The aircraft is a twin engine transport plane which carries out liaison missions and constitutes France's contribution to the force," a French military source in Cairo said.
The MFO is an independent peacekeeping force not related to the United Nations, created as a result of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and funded mainly by the two neighbours and the United States.
The approximately 2,000-strong military force was set up in 1982 and includes troops from 11 different countries, including a large US contingent. It is based in two camps in the Sinai peninsula.
According to the MFO's website, the aircraft is a DHC-6 Twin Otter which provides transportation between the force's two camps.
If it was the same type they used in ‘85 it was a Twin Otter, 12 seat puddle jumper. First plane I was ever shot at in. Dam! RIP comrades.
“If it was the same type they used in ‘85 it was a Twin Otter”
It was infact a twin otter.
Hey, keep in mind that nine people have lost their lives. It could very easily have been myself or some other American Soldiers on that bird. There are over 500 American Soldiers assigned to the peackeeping force in the Sinai. As a matter of fact, some of my Soldiers were on that very bird last night. Also, it is American Blackhawks that have responded to bring their comrades home. The French and Canadian Soldiers that died were (are) part of the the most successful peacekeeing force in history. They are here in the Sinai keeping the peace between Egypt and Israel, an endeavor that benefits all of mankind. Would that the UN were even half as successful at keeping the peace. www.mfo.org
You are there, then? Thanks for posting. Keep up the good work. We’ll keep you in our prayers.
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