Russian civilian aircraft was not targeted in Syria airspace: Official
Iran Press TV
Thu May 2, 2013 8:37AM GMT
A Syrian civil aviation official has dismissed media reports that a Russian plane with nearly 160 passengers on board was targeted while flying over Syria.
An official source at the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority told Syria’s official SANA news agency on Wednesday that the Airbus A320 plane, operated by charter air carrier Nordwind Airlines, entered the Syrian airspace and left it without any incident on April 29.
The source insisted that the pilot of the plane en route to the city of Kazan, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, from Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh contacted the air traffic control tower in the Syrian capital, Damascus, as a standard procedure, but did not mention any unusual incident.
The source also stated that the pilot only requested permission to rise from 34,000 to 36,000 feet as it was not considered to be something “out of the ordinary.”
On April 29, the Russian media cited an informed source in Moscow as saying, “Syrian (officials) informed us that unidentified forces launched two ground-to-air missiles which exploded in the air very close to a civilian aircraft belonging to a Russian airline.”
The source said the pilots managed to maneuver but it was only because they did so that lives were saved, adding it was unclear whether the attackers knew the plane was Russian.
Unrest has gripped Syria for more than two years. The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country.
MP/HSN
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
