Struggle to reach Afghan wreckage

NATO-led troops yesterday failed to reach the icy mountain peak where an Afghan airliner crashed three days ago with 104 people on board, a spokeswoman for the peacekeeping force said.

All aboard the Kam Air Boeing 737 are feared to have died on the 3,300-metre mountain, blanketed in thick snow after two weeks of bad weather. If the deaths are confirmed, it would be the worst crash in Afghan aviation history.

Most of the passengers were Afghans but also aboard were nine Turks, four Americans, an Italian navy officer, two other Italians, an Iranian and the eight crew, four of them Russians.

Helicopters from Afghanistan's NATO-led ISAF peacekeepers were grounded yesterday morning due to bad weather, but flew over the site later, though they failed to land anyone on the mountain top before calling off the search as night fell.

"Helicopters have been flying all around the area, but we haven't been able to get any troops in... the cliffs are so steep," said ISAF spokeswoman Karen Tissot van Patot.