U.S. BRIGADIER GENERAL HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE IN DUBROVNIK

DUBROVNIK, April 6 (Hina) - After a ceremony commemorating the death of 35 passengers, among them US Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown, whose plane crashed near Dubrovnik on Wednesday, US Army Brigadier General Mike Canavan held a press conference at Dubrovnik airport on Saturday. Canavan thanked Croatian civilian and military authorities for their prompt reaction. He said that the search operation had begun on the small island of Kolocep since the plane had disappeared from radar screens while flying over that island. The crash site was found around 19.30 hours Wednesday and Croatian army troops and firefighters arrived at the scene soon afterwards. US teams arrived from Italy around 2.00 hours Thursday, he said. Canavan said that 200 Croatian, 60 French, 20 Spanish, five Danish and 150 US troops had been involved in the search and rescue operation. (hina) vm 061628 MET apr 96