Patience advised as deadline for Mi-17 crash report expires

Patience advised as deadline for Mi-17 crash report expires

Although Monday was the deadline given to a technical commission to ascertain the causes of the crash, it remains unclear what and when the public can expect to learn about the probe.

Gasic said today he "had not seen the commission's report, and is not familiar with its content."

Selakovic, meanwhile, called for "patience," adding that it was "in nobody's interest to hide anything about the tragedy."

Selakovic told reporters at the national assembly on Monday that the "public-prosecutorial organization" was autonomous in its work and will publish its statements "when the time comes."

"Considering this is not something I am directly involved in, I cannot tell you when," Selakovic said.

Gasic and Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar have both been accused of wanting to use the transport of the sick infant for self-promotion, as the decision to send the helicopter to Belgrade has been questioned by critics.

And while Loncar was at the airport in Belgrade to meet the helicopter, Gasic said on Monday he was "in his house in Krusevac" during the evening on Friday, March 13, and only departed for Belgrade after he was informed about the crash.

"You can check that via (data from) cameras and toll booths," he said.

A day after the crash, army chief Ljubisa Dikovic announced that two commissions had been set up to investigate the event.

One of them was tasked with "determining who was responsible for the crash" and was given the March 18. deadline. This report was submitted to the prosecution, but the public has not been informed about its content.

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was the only official that provided some details when he on March 17 said the preliminary results of the investigation "did not rule out" that the craft malfunctioned.

The second, technical commission had until March 30 to submit its report.

"Nothing spectacular"

Commenting on this on Monday, Vucic said that he had read the second report and that it contained "nothing particularly spectacular," but that it determined there had been "technical omissions which, however, did not make a decisive contribution to the accident."

The prime minister revealed that the report contained "two important things that the public will learn about."

He also advised reporters at the Palace of Serbia today to ask the prosecution about all the details.

"Ask prosecutors, they could have published the reports at any point in time. I don't dare to call them and ask because it's an independent body," said Vucic.