Rest in peace to Daniel Saville, David Taylor, and Chris Carter and my heart goes out to the families and friends. Yet again, where is the recognition for the deaths of these men? I have no idea what company these guys were working for, but at the very least that company should be demanding that their contractors be recognized and counted for paying the ultimate sacrifice. To pay your respects, there is a thread on the subject over at SOCNET here.-Matt
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Three Britons named in Afghan plane crash blamed on bad weather
David Brown
May 18, 2010
Three Britons were among 44 people feared dead after an Afghan passenger plane crashed in mountains 60 miles north of the capital Kabul yesterday.
The missing men are Daniel Saville from Manchester, David Taylor from Staffordshire and Chris Carter, whose address is not known. They are all believed to be security contractors.
Poor weather has hampered efforts to locate the Pamir Airways flight from the northern city of Kunduz. There was no immediate word on casualties.
By nightfall rescuers were still struggling to reach the area, in snow-capped mountains near the 12,700 foot Salang Pass, a major route through the Hindu Kush mountains that connects the capital to the north.
Paul Norris, a spokesman at the British embassy in Kabul, said: “The plane is currently technically ‘missing’ as the crash site hasn’t yet been found. But we can confirm that three British nationals were on board.” The State Department said a US citizen was also among the missing.
The plane left Kunduz shortly after 8.30am. The Antonov An-24 is a 60-year-old medium range twin-turbo prop civil aircraft built in the former Soviet Union from 1950 to 1978.
Yama Ariaye, of Pamir Airways, said: “We don’t have any news but the weather was a problem. It was quite cloudy at the time.”
Captain Robert Leese, a spokesman for the Nato air unit assisting inthe search, said a US aircraft got within four miles of the crash site, but had to abort due to bad weather.
“All eyes were searching for the plane but the fog was so bad you couldn’t tell where the mountain began and the fog ended,” he said.
The Afghan Defence Ministry also ordered the nation’s air force to be on standby to assist in any rescue effort.
“The weather is very bad,” said General Rajab, commander of the Salang Pass for the Afghan Ministry of Public Works. “It is snowing. There is flooding.”
Pamir Airways is a private Afghan airline based in Kabul with daily flights to major Afghan cities, as well as to Dubai, Delhi in India, and to Saudi Arabia during forthe Hajj pilgrimage.
The airline uses Antonov An-24 type aircraft on all its Kunduz-to-Kabul flights. Despite its age, the aircraft is widely used by airlines in the developing world due to its rugged design, ease of maintenance and low operating costs. It is designed to operate from remote, unprepared airstrips with austere navigational aids.
Afghanistan’s last major civilian aircrash occurred in February 2005 when a Boeing 737 crashed in a snowstorm near Kabul, killing 104 passengers and crew.
Story here.