Meanwhile the government’s press service said that Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius had put Olekas under an obligation of performing a thorough investigation into the disappearance of the An-2 airplane and the search efforts.
“Amid the current situation, an exhaustive investigation should be carried out as soon as possible. Families of the missing pilots are entitled to know all circumstances of the incident. I authorize the minister of defence to go public with all the information to allow the families of the missing men and the society to know the real situation,” the prime minister said.
The An-2 with two highly experienced pilots Adolfas Mačiulis and Alvydas Selmistraitis went missing on Saturday afternoon en route from Sweden to Lithuania. The aircraft was discovered on Tuesday on the bottom of the Baltic Sea some 700 meters from the last position registered by a Swedish air surveillance radar.
It was found by the warship Kuršis, which is equipped with special equipment for exploring the sea bed and performing search operations. The ship was included into the search efforts after being recalled from an international exercise in Estonia on Monday evening. Daughter of one of the missing pilots maintains the ship was only recalled from the manoeuvres after she called the defence minister on the phone.
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