Aeriantur-M Airlines Antonov AN-26B plane crash
Balad, Iraq
Updated on
The Antonov belonging to Aeriantur-M Airlines was chartered to fly Turkish construction workers to Iraq. The plane left
Adana, Turkey, for a 90 minutes flight to the Balad Air Base, a US base in Iraq 80 km (50 NM) north of the capital Baghdad. There were 30
passenger and 5 crewmembers onboard.
On final approach, pilots missed the approach due to heavy fog and decided to perform a go around. On the second attempt,
the 25-years old plane hit the ground 2,5 km short of runway and was destroyed.
The death toll from the crash had risen to 34. Only one passenger survived and suffered injuries.
Turkish officials have blamed bad weather and low visibility for the disaster, but an Iraqi government official on
Wednesday cited technical failure or human error as the possible cause. Investigators do not exclude terrorism:
in statements published on their web site, the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) claimed that they shot down.
