- Title: VARIOUS: AIRBUS CRASHES KILLING ALL ABOARD
- Date: 31st March 1995
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MARCH 31, 1995) (RTV) SV AIRPORT ARRIVAL AREA SV VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING SV ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES BOARDS SV PEOPLE WALKING INTO BAR/IN BAR SV WOMAN WITH HAND ON HEAD SV CRYING WIDOW OF DEAD PASSENGER SV TWO RELATIVES LOOKING AT TIMETABLE BOARD SV TAROM AIRLINES PLANE BEARING GRIEVING RELATIVES OF VICTIMS ON TARMAC READY FOR TAKE OFF TO BUCHAREST,
- Embargoed: 15th April 1995 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA/BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- City:
- Country: Romania Belgium
- Topics: Accidents,General,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA86BNGUGB8BGCDCMLQN3F72PXR
- Story Text: All 59 people aboard a Brussels-bound Airbus were killed on Friday (March 31) when it crashed on take-off from Bucharest airport, officials said.
Aircraft owner Romanian Tarom airlines said 49 passengers and 10 crew were on the A310 aircraft when it crashed in driving snow in a field about 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the airport.
Transport officials at the scene said the passengers included Belgians and at least one American.
A witness told a radio station he saw an explosion on the rear of the aircraft just before it crashed. The same flight to Brussels was the subject of a bomb threat on March 15, but no bomb was found.
At the crash scene, the nose cone of the A310 Airbus formed a deep crater and one of the engines was almost buried beneath the freshly turned soil.
Wreckage was strewn over a large area. Rescue workers searched vainly among the suitcases and debris for survivors.
Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu immediately visited the crash scene.
At Brussels airport, the flight was marked "cancelled" on the arrivals board just before 0900 GMT, the first indication that something was wrong.
Friends and relatives of Belgians who had been aboard the flight waited anxiously, unaware of the fate of their loved ones.
After they had learned of the crash, some grieving relatives took advantage of Tarom's offer to fly them to Bucharest.
Tarom Airlines, which owned three Airbuses, grounded its two remaining Airbuses. Tarom general manager Vasile Racaru said that Friday's crash was the worst in the airline's history.
He said it was true that the airline had had a bomb scare earlier in the month but nothing had been found. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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