Newsstand - Plane Explodes in Angola, 48 Russians Killed

All 48 Russians aboard an Antonov 26 plane that exploded over northern Angola were believed dead, Portugal's Lusa news agency reported on Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-angola-.html


The official, quoted by Portuguese media, said the plane "exploded in the air" after taking off from Saurimo en route for Luanda.
An official from the Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed the crash.

The cause of the crash was not known, but a team of civil aviation investigators is travelling to the crash site. The Unita rebel group has in the past shot down civilian planes.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/973081751.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-01-2000).]

It is sad how "selectively" we regard human life. I have seen the SQ crash as headline news on every network. Not ONE bulletin has even mentioned this accident, even as an aside. These 48 deaths have passed without comment almost.

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~ Glen ~

Not ONE bulletin has even mentioned this accident, even as an aside. These 48 deaths have passed without comment almost.


Well, it was on Australian SkyNews... they even showed a map of the crash site. Even if it was mentioned for only about 15 seconds. Sadly, it seems that the more prestigous the airline the more coverage it gets.

This issue has previously been raised on FT. Most FTer's, and indeed most people and particularly Americans, are UNfamiliiar with the aircraft, the carrier, Angola and so on- so it just simply does get less attention and I'm not convinced that it's purposely done in a real negative sense - NOT to say that it's any excuse! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

this story was mentioned on CNN today as well.

The maxim in the newspaper business is that all news is local.

How often do our hometown newspapers (mine included) print stories that read something like this:

"TWO LOCAL PEOPLE KILLED IN PLANE CRASH"

"Two local people (insert the adjective for your town's residents here) were among those killed yesterday when a military airplane carrying radioactive waste crashed into the Eiffel Tower.
More than 625,000 others also died in the accident, and most of northern France was made uninhabitable. . . "

Our interest in plane crashes unfortunately parallels our evaluation of the ghoulish possibility that we knew someone on board.

Another view of this crash from PRUNE, and it is not a pretty thread! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif
http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum1/HTML/010817.html

More than 625,000 others also died in the accident

Was this an Airbus A3XX your locals were on? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif