Lion Air flight salvage efforts begin

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 1998, 03:49 GMT]
Mannar Kachcheri officials said this morning that efforts to salvage the Lion Air flight that fell into the sea off the Iranaithivu island, 25 kilometers south of Jaffna on Tuesday 29, have begun.

They said that Fr.Thevasahayampillai, the parish priest of the Catholic church in Vankalai in Mannar, left again this morning to Naachchikudah to see whether bodies could be retrieved from the plane.

The priest, who came from Naachikudah yesterday, was the first to confirm that the Lion air flight was lying under water 3 kilometers west of Iranaithivu, off the Naachchikudah coast.

The Co-ordinating Officer (CO) for Mannar, Brigadier S.Jayasundera, said that the matter is under consideration.

The Iranaithivu island and the fishing village of Naachchikudah are in the northern parts of the Mannar district which are under the control of the Liberation Tigers.

The LTTE has told the Vankalai priest and others who went yesterday that they would help any effort to salvage the plane and retrieve the bodies as long as the Sri Lankan Navy does not get involved in the work.

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