Slovenian Mountain Rescue Team

[Solid D]

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/afghan.plane/top.plane.ap.jpg

I have a question...particularly of the Slovenian members of our forum:

News of the jetliner that crashed yesterday near Kabul, Afghanistan, likely killing 104 people on board metioned a search and rescue team brought in to help. The Slovenian Mountain Rescue Team. Is this team considered one of the top Alpine Rescue teams in the world? Why this particular team? Are they part of a larger, global emergency aid group?

[SLOVENIAN 8]

I never heard for this. Slovenian Rescue team in Afganistan???? :lol Where did you get that i see on cnn.com and never see slo rescue team

Yes they are the best!!! :lol

[SLOVENIAN 8]

Matjaz Prosen

All of my life I was active in various sports: I was born in "skiing family" and start skiing at age of three, competing in regional championship with five, become skiing instructor later. I was active alpinist for 10 years and I am member of the Slovenian Mountain Rescue Team, organization that is a part of the International Commission for Alpine Rescue. I am a mountain guide and a climbing instructor.
For two years I was working as fitness instructor in government program for underprivileged children and our greatest achievement was completing 42 k marathon with some members of the group. I am a member of rafting team that competes in Slovenia Rafting Championship. I did a lot of solo trips: cycling in Sahara desert, paddling on the river Orinoco in Venezuela, canoeing in north Norway, rafting on Tara canyon in Bosnia, sea kayaking in Mediterranean.

I studied wildlife biology, I am specialist on large carnivores, especially on bear behavior, and I have master's degree on public attitude towards large carnivores.


Yes they are one of the best in the world :smokin

[Solid D]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=474223

CHENARI, Afghanistan Feb 5, 2005 — NATO helicopter gunships found the shattered wreckage of a missing Afghan airliner on a frigid mountain east of the capital Saturday, and officials said they believed none of the 104 people aboard could have survived the crash.

Six Americans were believed to have been on board, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said, double the number previously reported.

Afghan police struggled through deep snow to within sight of the scattered debris, but reported no sign of life beyond scavenging animals and birds and were forced back by darkness and plummeting temperatures.

"So far we don't think there are any survivors," said Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior. "The plane is completely destroyed."

The Boeing 737-200, flown by Kam-Air, post-Taliban Afghanistan's first private airline, vanished from radar screens Thursday afternoon as it approached Kabul airport in a snowstorm, sparking a massive search operation for the 96 passengers and eight crew, at least 24 of them foreigners.

If all are confirmed dead, it would be this war-wracked nation's deadliest air disaster.

Officials said there was no indication that the scheduled flight, which was arriving from the western Afghan city of Herat, was hijacked or brought down by a bomb.

Afghan transport minister Enayatullah Qasemi said the cause of the crash remained a mystery and that U.S. Department of Transportation experts as well as representatives of the foreign victims would help investigate.

NATO said two of its Dutch Apache helicopters spotted the tail of the plane Saturday afternoon, lying at an altitude of 11,000 feet on the side of Chaperi Mountain, 20 miles east of Kabul.

Helicopters then dropped a Slovenian mountain rescue team to the scene, but Qasemi said nobody reached the wreckage before nightfall. "Tomorrow, we plan to use helicopters to quickly start recovering the bodies, the minister said at a news conference. "It's not an easy job and it will take time."

Gen. Mahbub Amiri, an Afghan police commander who got as far as the village of Chenari, at the foot of the mountain, said 30 of his men got within a half-mile of the crash site. They saw no bodies among the pieces of plane jutting from the snow, but reported that wild animals and birds had been attracted to the scene.

[Slomo]

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/afghan.plane/top.plane.ap.jpg

I have a question...particularly of the Slovenian members of our forum:

News of the jetliner that crashed yesterday near Kabul, Afghanistan, likely killing 104 people on board metioned a search and rescue team brought in to help. The Slovenian Mountain Rescue Team. Is this team considered one of the top Alpine Rescue teams in the world? Why this particular team? Are they part of a larger, global emergency aid group?
I believe the article refers to the military mountain rescue team, not the civilian one (who is dedicated into assisting and rescueing mountainers - one of the oldest in the world). The alpine unit of the Slovenian army is one of the best and is specialized in winter survivor techniques. It is in fact so good that there has been a US Marine unit training with them for the past 4 or 5 years (it might be even more).

As for their presence in Afganistan, Slovenia is a NATO member and participates in the NATO Afganistan operations just as all the other members.

[Solid D]

Thanks, Slomo. I've learned something new today.

[The Big Chicken]

Since we are small, we try to contribute in quality since we do not have the quantity. But you know what they say, it is a matter of technique not the size:-)