Top Stories Headlines Thursday January 13 1:16 PM ET

Swiss Plane Crashes Off Libya, 15 Feared Dead

ZURICH (Reuters) - A Swiss-registered chartered plane with 41 people aboard crashed in the sea off Libya on Thursday and 15 people were feared killed, Swiss officials said.

``We believe that 15 people died and we sincerely hope that there will be no more victims to mourn,'' a Transport Ministry spokeswoman in Berne told Reuters.

The plane was operated by Zurich-based Avisto AG and was made by Irish planemaker Shorts. Shorts Brothers, of Belfast, is part of Canada's Bombardier Inc.

Avisto said the Shorts SD360-300 made an emergency landing in the sea during its approach to Masra el Brega, Libya's main center for producing petrochemicals.

Avisto was operating the plane for Sirte Oil Co in Libya to transport workers between its headquarters and various oil fields, Avisto said in a statement.

``There were 38 passengers of various nationalities as well as two pilots and one flight attendant on board,'' it said.

``The accident happened around 1135 GMT during a flight from Tripoli to Marsa el Brega. According to our information, the plane made an emergency landing in the water for unknown reasons shortly before landing in Marsa el Brega,'' it said.

It said it had no more details or any word on casualties. Marsa el Brega is operated by the National Petrochemicals Company (NAPECTCO).

Avisto operates planes to shuttle oil workers between the various oilfields, Tripoli and the Sirte headquarters at the Marsa el Brega petrochemical complex.

A spokeswoman for the Berne Transport Ministry said a Swiss accident investigator would travel to Tripoli Friday from Ottawa, where he was helping probe the crash of a Swissair plane near Halifax in September 1998 that killed all 229 on board.

The plane, with registration number HB-AAM, was the second Swiss aircraft to crash this week. A Crossair Saab 340 commuter place went down just after takeoff from Zurich Monday, killing all 10 passengers and crew

-- Oh No (ohnonotagain@noty2ki'msure.com), January 13, 2000

Answers

I'd hate to own stock in this airline. Between crashes and rising oil prices, that's going to have an impact.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 13, 2000.