58 Die in Yemeni Plane Crash
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SANA, Yemen — A military transport plane crashed in a sandstorm near Aden, killing all 58 people aboard, officials said Wednesday. All the victims were Yemenis.
The plane crashed Tuesday while on a flight to Aden from the island of Socotra, a former Soviet military base. There were no reports of any top officials on the plane, and sabotage was not suspected.
Foreign Minister Abdel-Karim Iryani said the plane crashed in extremely poor visibility after it twice attempted to land.
Yemeni officials said 58 people died, including children. The official news agency SABA said the plane had a six-member crew.
The passengers were 36 civilians and 16 non-civilians, including sailors from the navy garrison at Socotra and members of the island’s police and security forces.
The plane was identified as a Soviet-made Antonov, but the model was not given. The Yemeni air force is known to have AN-12, AN-24 and AN-26 turboprop transport planes.
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