SAS plane crash at Milan leaves 118 dead

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SAS plane crash at Milan leaves 118 dead

MILAN (AFX) - The official death toll in the crash of a Scandinavian Airlines Systems AB plane at Milan's Linate airport was put at 118 by Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi.

At 8.15 am the SAS MD-87 aircraft with an estimated 104 passengers on board and six crew is believed to have collided with a Cessna aircraft during a ground manoeuvre and then hit a warehouse provoking a fire.

Mario Marinelli, president of the pilots union Unione Piloti, pointed at inefficiencies of the ground radar system as a possible cause of the accident.

"The inefficiency of the ground control radar at Linate may have significantly contributed to a a possible human error," Marinelli said.

SAS shares fell sharply on the Stockholm bourse, and an analyst said the accident may increase concerns about safety at the airline, an area for which it has been criticised in the past.

"There has been some criticism of SAS's safety leading up to this accident. But without knowing anything about the circumstances surrounding the accident itself obviously I couldn't comment," the analysts said.

SAS said in a statement: "SAS is doing everything possible to help passengers and to assist Italian authorities at this time. A special phone number for next-of-kin will be released as soon as possible".

It added that the flight involved, SK686 is an SAS flight, and not a code-share flight.

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