Greek rescue teams searched yesterday for a missing Ukrainian airliner. A Defence Ministry official said in Athens that 2,000 military personnel, twice the number used to look for the aircraft yesterday, would be deployed today.
The Russian-built Yakovlev-42 plane, flown by the Ukrainian-Israeli Aerosweet Airlines, disappeared from radar screens late on Wednesday evening as it prepared to land in Salonika airport after a flight from Kiev via Odessa.
Authorities said they were now focusing their search on a mountainous region some 50 km southwest of Salonika, north of the celebrated Mount Olympus of ancient Greek legend.
Snow, low cloud and rugged terrain have hampered rescuers. The airline said the plane was carrying 62 passengers, including 40 Greeks, and eight crew when it disappeared. There were two babies and four children among the passengers.
One Greek construction company said 23 of its employees had been on board the aircraft returning for Christmas from building works in Odessa.
Greek media said the plane had been flying at only 3,800 feet when last heard from, far lower than many of the mountains in the region.
Civilians braved heavy rain and bitter cold to offer their help to the soldiers.
There has been a series of crashes involving former Soviet aircraft, both commercial and military. A Tajik Air Tupolev-154 plane with 86 people aboard crashed in the United Arab Emirates desert on Monday, killing all but one person. On December 6th, a giant Antonov An-124 military cargo plane with two fighter jets on board crashed into an apartment building in the Siberian city of Irkutsk shortly after take-off. Rescuers recovered 45 bodies and parts of 16 others. In addition, 39 people were reported missing.