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.