A massive search operation for the possible remains of the ill-fated Kam Air Boeing 737 jetliner, spearheaded by NATO-led international peacekeepers, has been going on for the most part of Friday, Xinhua learnt.

Xinhua correspondents accompanying International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) search teams said that they have been searching for the possible remains of the ill-fated Kam Air Boeing737 jetliner in the Khak-e-Jabbar District for hours, but still have not found a trace of the accident.

The search was conducted on the land and the air by ISAF soldiers as well as Afghan police and forces. The area where the distraught airliner might have crashed is characterized by rings of snow-bound mountains and deep snow, making it difficult for any search and rescue operations.

The area is located to the southwest of the capital, and is mostly inaccessible during the bad snowstorm that has swept the capital area since late Thursday.

Sources said the airliner might have crashed in this mountainous area, and search platoons have rushed to the site for investigation and salvage. However, due to harsh conditions there, nothing unusual has been found to this point, Xinhua learnt.

At a press conference given in Kabul by newly-appointed Afghan Transportation Minister Enayatullah Qasemi, he hinted at the possible crash of the airplane by saying that the search and rescue operation had been going on since Friday morning.

Kam Air said a total of 104 individuals were on board the jetliner on the Herat-Kabul route, among them seven were foreigners, and six among the eight crew members also came from abroad.

The Boeing 737 failed to land in the Kabul airport due to bad weather, and it is said to be ordered to divert to a nearest airport for landing, possibly in Peshwar, Pakistan.

However, the plane did not turn up on the tarmac, and many people including Afghan officials suspect the newly bought jetliner might be crashed somewhere near the capital.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2005)