29 bodies found from airliner

29 bodies found from airliner

COLOMBO (AP): Fishermen have recovered 29 bodies of the 55
people who were on board an airliner that disappeared over the
Indian Ocean north of Sri Lanka last week, officials said on
Monday.

Government officials believe the Lionair passenger aircraft,
an Antonov AN-24, may have strayed too close to a Tamil Tiger
guerrilla coastal base and been shot down by rebels who may have
mistaken it for an Air Force troop transport plane.

Twenty bodies were found on Sunday floating off the village of
Poonakary, about 260 kilometers north of Colombo, said Mariyadas
Croos, the government's chief administrator in the northwestern
Mannar district.

Six more were found on Saturday at Arialai Point, and three
others on Friday off the village of Nachchikudah, all in the same
district.

The plane disappeared during a 50-minute flight from Jaffna to
Colombo on Tuesday.