UN plane crashes killing 11 people
UN plane has crashed in western Haiti killing all of the 11 people on board
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Saturday, 10, Oct 2009 01:45
By Sarah Garrod.
A United Nations (UN) plane has crashed in western Haiti killing all of the 11 people on board, officials have confirmed.
The plane, which crashed in mountainous south-eastern Haiti, was on a regular reconnaissance flight when it crashed at around noon local time yesterday.
Those on board were part of the Minustah mission. The names of the victims have not yet been releases but the UN confirmed that the 11 bodies recovered include Uruguayan and Jordanian military officers serving with the mission.
Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon issued a statement through his spokesperson in which he extended his condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the peacekeepers who died, while Minustah did the same in its own communiqué.
The mission reported an investigation is already underway to determine the cause of the crash.
The UN said the Minustah mission has been in place in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, since mid-2004 after the then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide went into exile amid violent unrest. Currently there are more than 9,000 military and police personnel deployed and nearly 2,000 civilian staff.