President of Germany expressed condolences to kith and kin of those who perished in collision of Tu-154 and Boeing aircraft

Having learnt about the large-scale air crash in Southern Germany, President of the FRG Johannes Rau who is staying in Japan on a visit, expressed deep sympathy with the relatives of the victims. Rau expressed hope that the exact causes of the accident would be found out soon.

Last night a Russian passenger aircraft Tu-154 of the Bashkirskiye Avialinii (Bashkir Airlines) air company and a freight aeroplane Boeing-757 of the DHL international air transportation company collided near Boden See.

The Tu-154 carried 69 people, and two pilots were on board the Boeing. All of them perished. The Russian law-enforcement bodies are ready to cooperate with Germany if the latter submits a request to help investigate the crash of the Tu-154 aircraft.

As a competent representative of the law-enforcement bodies explained, all the questions of finding out the causes of the air crash and possibly of the investigation are within the competence of the German authorities.