MATESA SAYS ALL CONTACTS WITH FLIGHT CONTROL RECORDED

DUBROVNIK, April 4 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa and US Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith on Thursday held a press conference in Dubrovnik in connection with Wednesday's crash of a US Air Force plane with a US government and business delegation aboard. In response to a question about contacts between the plane and flight control, Matesa said that all contacts had been recorded and that the pilot's last contact had taken place near the small island of Kolocep, 3-4 km northwest of Dubrovnik. Croatian and US teams were still investigating the cause of the accident, Matesa said. Galbraith said that weather conditions had been very bad and that the Boeing 737 had not been flying along the coast but over a valley. Galbraith said that there was no evidence of the plane having been downed by hostile fire, and added that the crash site was three miles northwest of Dubrovnik airport. Thirty-three bodies, including two of Croatian citizens, had been recovered, the US ambassador said, leaving open the possibility that there might have been a few more passengers on board. Matesa expressed deep sympathy on behalf of the Croatian government, president and people to all those who had lost their loved ones in the tragic event. (hina) vm jn 041852 MET apr 96