Inquiries to probe military aircraft crash: Italy

Rome, 24 Nov

A public inquiry will investigate Monday's military plane crash at the airport of the central Italian city of Pisa which killed all the five people on board, a media report said.

The Italian airforce has said it will also conduct its own probe into what caused the C130 Hercules transport plane to crash during a training flight.

The plane crashed onto the runway immediately after taking off from Pisa's Galileo Galilei international airport and burst into flames. Some eyewitnesses reported seeing a fire breaking out on the plane before it crashed, the report added Monday.

Eyewitnesses added that the aircraft clipped power cables in windy conditions as it attempted to complete a manoeuvre known as "touch and go". It crashed next to the railway lines.

All the five on board were members of the Italian airforce.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa and Senate and Lower House of Parliament's Speakers, Renato Schifani and Gianfranco Fini, were among the politicians who expressed condolences.

The C130 aircraft is the world's most widely used aircraft to transport the troops.

The Tuscany region's Secretary for the Democratic Party, Italy's largest opposition party, Andrea Manciulli, said the crash was both tragic and worrying.

"It's a tragedy that leaves us concerned and saddened," he said expressing sympathy for the victims and their friends.

Last updated on Nov 24^th, 2009 at 06:46 am IST--IANS/AKI

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