/ 2 September 1999

ETHIOPIA RECOVERS PILOTS’ BODIES

THE bodies of the two pilots of the Learjet shot down on Sunday by Ethiopian troops have been recovered and are to be transported to the capital, Addis Ababa. Speaking by telephone from Addis Ababa, South African ambassador to Ethiopia Kingsley Mamabolo said the Ethiopian government regards the downing of the aircraft as “regrettable”. Mamabolo added that Ethiopian troops believed the aircraft was an Eritrean plane in a no-fly zone. Mamabolo said the bodies of Briton Alan Lewis, 47, and Swede Anders Rors, 48, will probably be flown to Addis Ababa on Thursday. A spokesman for ExecuJet, the company transporting the aircraft when it was shot down, told Radio 702 that the company is making arrangements to have the bodies returned to their home countries.