5 Jordanian officers killed in Haiti plane crash

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) on Saturday released the names of five officers who were killed a day earlier in a plane crash in Haiti, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Colonel Obeidallah Mawajdeh, Lieutenant Colonel Jihad Mheirat, First Lieutenant Bilal Abu Hjeileh, First Warrant Officer Amer Rawashdeh and Major Mohammad Shorman, who were serving as part of a UN peacekeeping mission in the Caribbean nation, died Friday along with six Uruguayan peers when their surveillance plane crashed into a mountain

The JAF attributed the crash to a technical malfunction, according to Petra.

All on board died after the CASA C-212 twin engine turboprop aircraft went down Friday afternoon near the border with the Dominican Republic, about 45 kilometres from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, the Associated Press reported.

Two UN helicopters were able to land near the site Saturday morning and peacekeepers began the process of bringing bodies back to Port-au-Prince, mission spokesman David Wimhurst told the AP.

The victims were serving with the 9,000-strong UN peacekeeping force that has been in Haiti since a 2004 rebellion ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Six Uruguayan soldiers were killed in the crash, including the pilot and co-pilot, Uruguay's minister of defense told local media.

Wimhurst would not speculate on when results of an investigation into the cause of the crash would become available.

"The investigation will take some time... Any air crash requires experts to analyze it," he said.

The mountainous border area between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where the Uruguayan plane was flying, is rife with drug and human smuggling.

The UN peacekeeping mission, which is expected to be renewed for a sixth year when its mandate expires October 15, has been shifting its focus to the border region in recent years. The international community has also been helping to rebuild the Haitian national police force to strengthen its presence there.

A UN statement said the aircraft was on "a regular reconnaissance flight". It was unclear why the plane was doing surveillance near the border or how often such flights take place.

Through a spokesperson, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon extended "his heartfelt condolences to the family members, friends and colleagues of these brave peacekeepers".

With no roads near the crash site, rescuers initially had to clamber overland to reach it and confirm there were no survivors.

The area is a regular transit point for South American cocaine passing through Haiti and the Dominican Republic on its way to Europe and North America.

Haitian migrants are brought across the porous border, often illegally, to work in Dominican construction, tourism and agriculture.