Plane Crashed in Kodori ? Abkhaz Army Chief-of-Staff
An unidentified aircraft flew into Abkhaz airspace from the Black Sea and crashed in the Kodori Gorge on August 22, the chief-of-staff of the breakaway Abkhazian armed forces, Anatoly Zaitsev, said, Interfax news agency and Russian news website Newsru.com reported.
Speaking with reporters in Sokhumi on August 25, Zaitsev said he himself had witnessed an aircraft flying from the direction of Turkey into Abkhaz territory.
?It was losing altitude; a smoke trail was also seen,? Zaitsev said. ?Our observation post in the [lower] Kodori Gorge also observed an overflight? and then saw billowing black smoke rising from the ground.
He said it was probably either a bomber or a reconnaissance aircraft. He said it was neither Russian nor Georgian. ?It presumably was an American spy plane,? Zaitsev added. He said that there were no shots fired at the aircraft.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said Georgian forces in upper Kodori Gorge had fired ?warning shots? after an aircraft violated Georgian airspace on August 22. There have been reports that an aircraft was downed. The Interior Ministry has sent a team to investigate.
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