Tag Archives: frontex

Five Persons Dead in Military Plane Crash in Malta

 

Everyone this morning in Malta was shocked by the news of a Military Plane Crash. A aeroplane by the Luxembourg military allegedly was taking off to go on a military mission in Misrata in Libya, at 7.15am today.  News in Malta claimed that the plane was leased to Frontex, however on Twitter Frontex wrote that it “was not deployed by Frontex”.

The plane was of the twin-prop Metroliner type. The plane crashed near the road and the old Ħal Safi barracks.
So far it appears 5 persons are dead. It is not known whether other people are dead besides those in the plane.
RTK radio warned people not to go Ħal Luqa. Ambulances and fire engines went on the spot. Malta International Airport has been reopened with some delays in flights.

The BBC reported that Maltese authorities said that the flight had been part of a French customs operation to track illicit trafficking of drugs and people.
However French customs tweeted denying this: “Nous vous remercions pour vos messages mais aucun #douanier français n’était à bord de l’appareil qui s’est écrasé à #Malte”

The BBC wrote that an investigation into the causes of the crash is to be conducted by the French defence ministry, and French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed that three of the victims were ministry staff while the other two were contractors. French media is saying that the victims were DGSE members ie spies. DGSE is France’s external intelligence agency.


Vimeo video by Sylvana Zammit / Newsbook.com.mt:

Source: Newsbook

 

YouTube video by Paul Pietka

Malta International Airport issued a statement on Facebook:

planecrash2

Frontex tweeted: