DAMASCUS, 8 October 2007 — A Syrian plane on an ordinance survey mission crashed near Damascus yesterday killing all three crew members, the official SANA news agency reported.
Earlier witness reports of the crash identified it as a military aircraft. SANA said the plane belonged to the ordinance survey institute and was on a training flight when the accident occurred five kilometers (three miles) west of the Syrian capital and close to a military airport.
“A Navajo-type plane belonging to the national topography institute crashed this morning at Moadamiyeh near Damascus during a training flight,” the agency said, adding that “technical failure” had caused the crash. “The three members of the crew were killed. An inquiry has been opened to determine the causes of the accident,” it said.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Damascus had an important role to play in settling conflict across the Middle East following talks yesterday with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“Syria has an important role to play in the settling... of problems whether they be Iraqi, Palestinian or Lebanese,” Babacan told a joint news conference with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.
