More victims of 1993 Babushera tragedy identified, returned home
Tweet 
Share
Five bodies unearthed at Babushera’s mass grave in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region have been identified and returned to their families.
Authorities managed to identify the bodies of the 1993 tragic plane crash victims as a result of DNA testing carried out in Zagreb, Croatia.
The Georgians, who died while attempting to complete a humanitarian mission 22 years ago, are lying in state at the country’s main cathedral, the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, where citizens can pay their respects today. Later this afternoon the bodies will be reburied at the Doghomi Brother’s Cemetery in Tbilisi.
On September 22, 1993 a plane flying from Tbilisi to Sokhumi – the capital city of breakaway Abkhazia - was shot down while it attempted to land at Babushera Airport. The aircraft crashed on the runway, killing 108 of the 132 people on board.
See a multimedia story about the victims and survivors of the tragedy here.
The tragic crash came four days before the 13-month war in Abkhazia ended.
The flight was carrying soldiers and doctors, who were on a humanitarian mission. Those on board were planning to help civilians in Sokhumi and take the wounded back to Tbilisi.
On May 8, 2014 the Babushera mass grave was opened after lengthy negotiations between Tbilisi and Sokhumi’s de facto leadership. The negotiations were supported by the International Red Cross Commission.
As a result of the negotiations, 30 victims of the Babushera plane crash were unearthed from the Babushera mass grave in Abkhazia and transferred to Georgia. DNA samples of unidentified victims were sent to Croatia, which resulted in the identification of four bodies.
These bodies were earlier returned to Tbilisi and their families.
DNA testing is still ongoing in the Croatian capital to identify the remaining bodies unearthed from the mass grave.
Georgian Ministry of Refugees officials and representatives of the de-facto Abkhazian government met today under the auspices of the International Red Cross Commission where they discussed issues relating to the searching and transferring of bodies of those missing since the Georgia-Abkhazian conflict in the early 1990s.
Four soldiers who died in a plane crash while on a military mission 21 years ago have been buried with full military honours at the Digomi Brothers’ Cemetery today.
It's been 21 years since the Babushera tragedy in Abkhazia and the bodies of thirteen Georgians who died in the crash are finally being returned home. A plane carrying more than 120 people from Tbilisi was shot down while landing at Babushera Airport in Sokhumi on September 20, 1993, during the Abkhaz war.
Excavation of Georgian remains found in a mass grave in Abkhazia at Sokhumi’s Babushera Airport in September 1993 has begun, with authorities hoping to identify the remains and return the bodies’ home to Georgia.
Eleven mass graves in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region and nearby territory will soon be opened to find and identify bodies of those missing since the Abkhazian conflict in the early 1990s.
The bodies of 12 Georgians found in mass grave in Abkhazia, at Sokhumi’s Babushera Airport have been identified and returned to their loved ones for an honourable burial.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry says that Babushera Airport in the city of Sokhumi in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region will not be used for international flights, contradicting the information released by Russian media. Russian media outlets report that the Russian government is trying to open the airport for international flights.