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First wreckage of U.S. plane identified off Namibia
September 16, 1997
Web posted at: 3:13 p.m. EDT (1913 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Some wreckage recovered in the Atlantic Ocean by a Namibian coastal patrol boat has been positively identified as coming from the U.S. Air Force C-141 cargo plane that disappeared Saturday, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
A military spokesman said a piece of wing was identified by its serial number, and two other pieces of wreckage also were believed to have come from the plane.
The wreckage was recovered in the same area as debris found Monday from a German Air Force jet that disappeared at the same time Saturday. All 33 people aboard the two planes were feared dead, although only one body -- that of a German crew member -- was found.
The German Tupolev 154 was flying to South Africa from Niger via Windhoek, Namibia, while the C-141 was flying west to Ascension Island from Windhoek.
There was speculation that the two aircraft might have collided, but a U.S. military official said it was still "premature" to draw firm conclusions at this stage of the investigations.
But Col. Eddy Brown of the South African Air Force told a news conference, "I think we can start saying it's a very good possibility that there was a collision."
German Defense Minister Volker Ruehe on Tuesday denied charges that the German plane was ill-equipped for its flight. Instead, he said air traffic safety in Africa needed to be improved.
An organization of pilots agreed.
"Approximately 75 percent of the air traffic infrastructure in Africa is unable to provide the services required for the safe and expeditious operation of flights through the area," according to the Airline Pilots' Association of South Africa.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Search for missing planes yields wreckage, not survivors - September 15, 1997
- Search ship finds plane wreckage in South Atlantic - September 14, 1997
- U.S., German planes missing in South Atlantic - September 14, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- The Pentagon information from DefenseLINK
- Air Force Link - official Web site of the United States Air Force
- C-141B Starlifter - fact sheet
- Tupolev - information about Tupolev Andrej Nikolaevich and his aircraft designs
- Die Luftwaffe - official site of the German Air Force (in German)
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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