UAE minister says human error caused Tajik airliner crash

The Communications Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Ahmad Hamid Al-Tayer,says human error was responsible for the crash of a Tajik airliner last month near Sharjah airport.

In remarks published by the newspaper Gulf News, Mr al-Tayer said mistakes by crew members caused the accident, in which eighty-five people were killed.

The comments by the Emirates minister were angrily denied by Tajikistan.

A director of the state-owned Tajik Air Mirzo Mastangulov told Reuter news agency the official crash report would not be ready until July, and described Mr al-Tayer's remarks as provocative, premature and ill-considered.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service