Silk Way AN-12 crashes with loss of seven crew, as EgyptAir investigators focus on CDG groundstaff

Luc Willems

It’s a sad day for aviation. While most of the world’s media focuses on the loss of the EgyptAir aircraft, which tragically disappeared this morning over the Mediterranean, it was not the only loss today.

A SilkWay AN-12, carrying cargo on a military mission within Afghanistan, crashed after an engine failed on take-off from Camp Dwyer.

Seven of the nine-member crew died, woith the other two in critical condition. They comprise a Uzbekistan citizen (the captain), three Ukrainians and five Azeris.

Meanwhile, investigators on the EgyptAir flight are focusing on the ground crew in Paris Charles de Galle, where authorities have previously found ultra-conservative Muslims with access to the loading and unloading of aircraft according to LLL.com. About 70 staff who work in the most secure areas had security clearance withdrawn in 2015. Some eight merchant ships are involved in the search for the aircraft, which had stopped in Tunisia before flying to Paris.