Plane Crash Kills 44 in Hungary
HEJCE, Hungary — A Slovak military plane with 45 people on board crashed Thursday in Hungary and just one person survived, a Hungarian police official said.
Most of those aboard were peacekeeping troops returning from the NATO-led mission in Kosovo, a province of Serbia, which is one of two republics in the nation of Serbia and Montenegro.
“Forty-four people died, this is certain, and one survived,†Hungarian police spokesman Laszlo Garamvolgyi told a news conference today.
The plane crashed in a forested mountainous area 12 miles from the Kosice base in Slovakia. The aircraft had been headed toward the base.
Hungarian officials said rescue and recovery work had been hampered by poor roads.
“This aircraft was an AN-24 military aircraft flying from Pristina to Kosice in Slovakia and it crashed in Telkibanya, near the Slovak border,†said Miklos Merenyi, a spokesman for Hungary’s Economy Ministry.
Rescue and recovery efforts involved Slovak as well as Hungarian workers.
Hungarian news agency MTI said the survivor was taken by ambulance to a Kosice hospital, and Hungarian officials said troops were sent to help.
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