Ukrainian officials arrive in Cairo to help determine the cause of last Friday's crash of a cargo plane in Luxor, reports Amirah Ibrahim Egyptian and Ukrainian investigators are trying to uncover the cause behind Friday's crash of a cargo plane at Luxor airport. Five crew members died when the plane burst into flames during take- off and slid down the runway. A statement issued by Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority said "the plane slid off the tarmac and came to rest hundreds of yards from the runway where it was consumed in flames." Andriy Panagushyn, consul at the Ukrainian Embassy in Cairo, says the dead crew members include two Ukrainians, two from Belarus and one Russian. He added that he had no information about the cargo the plane was transporting. Representatives of Volcan Air, a branch of Aerolift, the South African owners of the aircraft, arrived in Egypt two days ago to help in the investigations. Emad Salam, head of the Egyptian Aviation Authority, reports that the probe will be conducted by Egyptian experts since the crash occurred on Egyptian territory, as required under international aviation law. "The black box, collected wreckage and any additional information gathered will be analysed by a joint team of experts in our laboratories," said Salam. Salam put paid to speculation that the black box had been lost in the fire by reporting it had been found on Monday and was now in Cairo. The Russian-made Antonov An-12 cargo plane was travelling from Entebbe, Uganda to Ukraine and had stopped in Luxor to refuel. It arrived at the southern Egyptian city at 12:30am where it took on board 18,000 litres of fuel supplied by Misr Petroleum Company. At 04:10 the plane started to take off. According to airport officials, one of the aircraft's engines caught fire during take off, flames then spread over the airplane and it crashed not far from the runway. Fire engines rushed to the scene but were unable to quench the flames. Officials said the incident did not affect operations at the rest of the airport. Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq accompanied the team of experts visiting Luxor to investigate the cause of the accident. The pilot failed to take off successfully and crashed into the tarmac after lifting the plane several metres", Shafiq told reporters. "The plane's fully loaded fuel tank contributed to the blaze." "While it is too early to determine the cause of the crash or to make accusations there would appear to be two possible reasons, either a pilot mistake of the wrong loading of fuel." Air control officials say the plane had not sent any calls suggesting it was in trouble. "The plane flew six hours from Uganda to Luxor and the pilots expressed no complaints during their flight or after they arrived at Luxor," says Ahmed Said, chairman of the Air Control and Navigation Company. "Luxor airport's control tower cleared the plane for safe take off and did not receive any indication from the Ukrainian pilot that he was experiencing technical problems." Egyptian aviation authorities had earlier banned Russian An-12 cargo planes owing to concerns over noise pollution from the engines. "We received a request from the Russian authorities to remove the ban and permit the fleet to operate to Egypt during a set period while the manufacturers worked on the modifications necessary to ensure the aircraft meets international standards. We responded by allowing the An-12 to continue operating in Egypt up to next May," says Salam. An-12s currently fly into Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada and Luxor airports. The bulk of the traffic comprises charter flights carrying Russian and East European tourists. "We will reconsider any ban on the An-12 fleet in the light of the investigators' final report into last week's crash," Salam concluded.
