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THE WHITE HOUSE

                      Office of the Press Secretary
                        (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   February 3, 1998

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Accident Involving U.S. Aircraft in Italy

I was deeply saddened to learn a short while ago that a U.S. military jet aircraft was involved in an accident in Italy that resulted in the deaths of several Italian citizens.

The plane is part of the U.S. force stationed at Aviano air base in Italy that is supporting the NATO SFOR mission in Bosnia. U.S. military authorities in Aviano have launched an investigation into this accident. I have expressed my condolences to Prime Minister Prodi and assured him that we will cooperate fully with the Italian government and do everything we can to find out what happened and prevent an accident like this from happening again.

On behalf of the American people I offer my heartfelt sympathy to the families and friends of those killed and injured in this accident.

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