YEREVAN, JULY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. At the beggining of the July 16 sitting, the members of the Armenian government observed a minute of silence in memory of those who died in the crash of Tu-154 plane bound for Yerevan from Tehran on July 15. Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that by instruction of the Armenian president, an operative staff was set up. It is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgian and has already held several sittings with the aim of dealing with issues related to transportation of victims' relatives to the crash site, funeral expenses, provision of insurance payments, etc. Head of the Civil Aviation Department Artyom Movsesian announced that the list of the passengers on board the crashed plane has been completely clarified: there were 36 Armenians on board, including 5 Armenian citizens: 3 passengers and 2 aircraft mechanics. The plane was carrying 4 children, one of whom was an Armenian. Two of the plane's three black boxes have already been recovered and sent to Tehran. According to A. Movsesian, if the black boxes are not damaged, they will be analyzed in Iran, while in case of being damaged, they will be sent to an expert group in Moscow for analysis. He said that in connection with the crash 11 commissions have been formed in Tehran. Besides, cooperation has been established with the Interstate Aviation Committee. A. Movsesian stated that Armenia is ready to provide assistance as the country's civil aviation has highly-qualified staff with considerable experience of Tu-154 aircraft operation. A. Movsesian said that a special plane would come from Iran to Armenia on the same day to carry victims' relatives - 51 people to Tehran. In his words, Caspian Airlines which operated the flight will cover all the expenses on the funerals of the crash victims. The airline intends to give an insurance payment of 32 thousand euros to each victim's family. For some persons, this payment will amount to 42 thousand euros.

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