Black boxes recovered following crash in Turkey

TRABZON, Turkey -- Turkish soldiers Tuesday retrieved the flight recorders from a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed into a mountain, killing 62 Spanish peacekeepers and 13 crew members.

Using wedding rings, clothing, dental records and military name tags, Turkish and Spanish forensic experts on Tuesday identified all the bodies, said Maj. Gen. Vincent C. Navarro, the head of the Spanish forensic team.

The plane, which was carrying the peacekeepers home from a four-month mission in Afghanistan, crashed and burst into flames Monday while trying to make a refueling stop near the Black Sea port of Trabzon.

Turkish soldiers found the black boxes after searching through scattered piles of twisted and burned metal, Turkey's Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said.

The voice and data flight recorders could provide clues to why the plane crashed.

No foul play was suspected.

It was Spain's worst military accident ever.

Tail hit mountain

Turkish officials at the crash site said the position of the debris showed that the plane's tail hit the mountain first, suggesting the pilot had tried to steer the plane upward to avoid the mountain.

Some Turkish aviation officials have speculated that there might have been a technical malfunction.

Volodymyr Gorbanovskyi, deputy director of Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines (UM Air), the company that owned the plane, dismissed any technical failure.

He said the 15-year-old plane's navigation, communications and safety systems were fully renovated in June 2001.

A check was made last month, Gorbanovskyi said.

Ukraine's Transport Ministry also dispatched a team of experts to Turkey on Tuesday to investigate the accident.

The peacekeepers' deaths were the first deaths among Spanish troops in the 17 months they have been involved in the international mission in Afghanistan.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed "deep regret" at the deaths of the Spanish troops and praised their "selfless" contribution to peace efforts, said a statement from his spokesman.