At least 16 die in Slovak plane crash
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-20 08:36

A Slovak military plane returning from Kosovo crashed in a mountainous region of northeastern Hungary on Thursday, killing at least 16 of the more than 40 people on board, officials said.

At least one survivor was found at the site of the crash near the Slovak border, said Tibor Dobson, a spokesman for Hungary's national disaster agency.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sandor Orodan said the aircraft was carrying Slovak soldiers, but he did not elaborate.

Partial map of Europe highlighting Slovakia and Hungary.[AFP]

But a NATO officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said in Kosovo that the plane carried homeward bound Slovak troops who had been serving in the NATO-led peacekeeping force. Officials say Slovak troops help patrol the boundary between Kosovo and Serbia.

Hungarian Defense Ministry spokesman Istvan Bocskai said on Info Radio that about 48 people were on board the AN-24 aircraft, which took off from Kosovo's capital, Pristina. Dobson said 45 were aboard. The reason for the disparity was not immediately clear.

The crash occurred near the Hungarian village of Telkibanya around 7:30 p.m., said Gergely Abraham, a spokesman for the Economic and Transport Ministry. He said the crash did not occur in a heavily populated area.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sandor Orodan said Hungarian fire crews were at the crash site in a wooded, mountainous area 2.5 miles from the Slovak border.

Orodan said he did not have any information on casualties.

The Czech news agency CTK reported Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda had called a late-night meeting with Cabinet ministers.

The agency also said the Slovak army sent a helicopter to the crash site, but that it was unable to land because of bad weather.