Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 28 January 2020
U.S. says mystery crash in Afghanistan was U.S. Air Force plane

By RAHIM FAIEZ and KATHY and open the way to a
GANNON broader post-war deal for
Associated Press Afghans. The Taliban cur-
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) rently control or hold sway
— An American military over around half the coun-
aircraft crashed in eastern try.
Afghanistan on Monday, Local Afghan officials had
the U.S. military said, add- said earlier on Monday that
ing that there were no in- a passenger plane from Af-
dications so far it'd been ghanistan's Ariana Airlines
brought down by enemy had crashed in the Taliban-
fire. held area of the eastern
The spokesman for U.S. Ghazni province. However,
forces in Afghanistan, Col. Ariana Airlines told The As-
Sonny Leggett, said that sociated Press that none of
the military plane, a Bom- its planes had crashed in
bardier E-11A, crashed Afghanistan.
in the Ghazni province The conflicting accounts
and an investigation of its could not immediately be
causes was ongoing. reconciled.
Monday's plane crash is not Arif Noori, spokesman for
expected to derail U.S.-Tal- the provincial governor,
iban peace talks if it turns A wreckage of a U.S. military aircraft that crashed in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, is seen Mon- said the plane went down
out to have been an acci- day, Jan. 27, 2020. around 1:10 p.m. local time
dent. Associated Press (8:40 a.m. GMT) in Deh Yak
The Bombardier E-11A is a district, some 130 kilometers
U.S. Air Force electronic sur- be independently verified. in the area did not report the military to extend the (80 miles) southwest of the
veillance plane. Video from Ghazniwal said the crash a loud crashing noise. He range of radio signals and capital Kabul. He said the
the crash site circulating on site was about 10 kilome- couldn't say whether the can be used to convert the crash site is in territory con-
social media appeared to ters (6.2 miles) from a U.S. aircraft had been shot output of one device to trolled by the Taliban. Two
show its charred ruins. military base. Local Tal- down but "the crash was another, such as connect- provincial council mem-
A Taliban spokesman and iban have been deployed not loud." ing a radio to a telephone. bers also confirmed the
Afghan journalist affiliated to protect the crash site, Images on social media Colloquially referred to by crash.
with the militant group had he said, and several other purportedly of the crashed the U.S. military as "Wi-Fi in But the acting director
earlier said the mystery militants were combing the plane showed an aircraft the sky," the BACN system is for Ariana Airlines, Mirwais
crash was a U.S. military nearby village for two peo- bearing U.S. Air Force mark- used in areas where com- Mirzakwal, dismissed re-
plane. ple they suspect may have ings similar to other E-11A munications are otherwise ports that one the compa-
Tariq Ghazniwal, a journal- survived the crash. surveillance aircraft pho- difficult, elevating signals ny's aircraft had crashed.
ist in the area, said that he The Taliban hold much of tographed by aviation en- above obstacles like moun- The state-owned airline
saw the burning aircraft. In Ghazni province and have thusiasts. Visible registration tains. The system is in regu- also released a statement
an exchange on Twitter, he total control over the local numbers on the plane also lar use in Afghanistan. on its website saying all its
told The Associated Press area of the crash. appeared to match those The U.S. and Taliban are aircraft were operational
that he saw two bodies and Ghazniwal said the site was aircraft. negotiating a reduction in and safe.
the front of the aircraft was near a village called Sado The so-called Battlefield hostilities or a cease-fire to The mountainous Ghazni
badly burned. He added Khelo, in the Deh Yak dis- Airborne Communications allow a peace agreement province sits in the foothills
that the aircraft's body and trict. He also said the crash Node can be carried on un- to be signed that could of the Hindu Kush moun-
tail were hardly damaged. occurred soon after 1 p.m. manned or crewed aircraft bring home an estimated tains and is bitterly cold in
His information could not local time, but residents like the E-11A. It is used by 13,000 American troops winter.q

Brazil downpour displaces 30,000, bracing for more rain

By ANNA JEAN KAISER Flooded roads created vio- figures from various munici-
Associated Press lent rapids, sweeping up palities. Rio state authorities
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — victims, cars and other de- didn't immediately respond
Over 30,000 people have bris. to a request for official
been displaced by heavy Those evacuated were data.
rains in southeast Brazil that being housed in make- Local authorities warned
also killed 54 people and shift shelters in churches, that the Belo Horizonte
left 18 missing. schools and fire stations. Lo- metropolitan area, home
The storms in recent days cal authorities have asked to nearly 6 million people,
caused floods and land- for donations of clothes, could see up to 100 milli-
slides, submerging entire sheets and mattresses for meters (4 inches) of rain in
neighborhoods and send- the victims. the next three days.
ing homes tumbling down In Minas Gerais, 15,000 The city had 171 millime-
hillsides in the states of people were evacuated ters (6.7 inches) over one
Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo and in Espirito Santo nearly 24-hour period from Thurs-
and Rio de Janeiro. Rains 10,000 more, according to day to Friday, the highest
subsided by Monday, but local rescue efforts. rainfall in 110 years. Over
A view of flooded houses caused by heavy rains in Sabara mu-
nicipality, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, Friday, Jan.24, 2020. were expected to resume In Rio, at least 6,000 were 120 municipalities in Minas
Associated Press later this week in some ar- evacuated, according to Gerais state have declared
eas. local news media, citing a state of emergency.q