'Black boxes' found at Turkey plane crash site

Investigators found two 'black box' recorders yesterday amid the wreckage of a Ukrainian plane that crashed into a mountain near Turkey's Black Sea coast in thick fog, killing all 75 people aboard.

The chartered Yak-42, taking 62 Spanish peacekeeping troops home from Afghanistan, was making its second attempt to land at Trabzon airport to refuel when it crashed early on Monday. Twelve of the crew were Ukrainian and one was Belarussian.

The recording devices could give vital clues to why the aircraft apparently veered off course in the fog while preparing to land and smashed into the mountainside.

"We have found two of the plane's black boxes," Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul was quoted as saying by Anatolian news agency. "There may be a third black box, and they are trying to find that now."

"They will be examined abroad but not in Ukraine," a Turkish official told Reuters. "They should give us the information we need."

Spanish and Ukrainian crash investigators scoured the site, near the northeastern town of Macka.

Personal belongings, including postcards, photographs, helmets and boots, were scattered among the charred wreckage of the plane, which was split into two large pieces. Heavy fog still clung to the steep, wooded mountainside.

Many of the bodies, recovered on Monday and taken to Trabzon, were burned beyond recognition, making identification difficult.

Spanish Defence Minister Federico Trillo, who visited the crash site with Gonul, said "They are identifying the bodies. I hope perhaps tomorrow we will put them on the flight to Spain."

Two Spanish military planes were to arrive in Trabzon later in the day to take the soldiers' bodies home.

Turkish officials were planning a military ceremony to mark their departure, expected on Wednesday if Turkish, Spanish and Ukrainian experts had finished identifying the bodies by then.