Alternate FM Kranidiotis die in airplane accident

Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis was killed in a freak accident shortly before midnight yesterday when a plane carrying a Greek diplomatic mission to Bucharest plummeted some 17,000 feet in the air prior to landing. A total of six people died in the accident, including the minister's 25-year-old son. The plane dropped from an altitude of 23,000 feet to 6,000 feet, before pilots landed the aircraft safely at the Bucharest airport.
According to reports, the plane lost altitude as it entered an air pocket, fatally injuring six of the passengers on board the Falcon commuter jet used by the Greek premier for his official travels abroad.The Greek alternate FM was on his way to a six-nation Balkan foreign ministers' meeting in the Romanian capital, focusing on regional cooperation.

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos issued a statement shortly after confirmation of Kranidiotis' death, stressing that the "...accident that caused so many deaths shocked all of us".
"The loss of Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis takes away from the nation a valuable man who has rendered great services...Let me express my condolences to the families of the victims," the statement read.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis expressed what he called his deep shock over the alternate FM's death and of five other passengers on board the jet.
"The tragic news of Yiannos Kranidiotis' death has shaken all of us deeply. Yiannos Kranidiotis, tireless in his duty, sternly defended with success and without sparing efforts and personal costs, the interests of Hellenism in every corner of the world.
"He represented Greece with knowledge, skill and determination...His sudden and unjust loss today creates a large and irreplaceable vacuum. We will remember him as a friend and close associate, among the most capable, for whom we will always be very pro ud. To his family I would like to express my sincerest condolences."Our grief is also great for the death of the members of the mission, who lost their lives while on duty. We will remember them  and honour their memory. I would like to express my sincerest condolences to their loved ones for their great loss."

Foreign Minister George Papandreou stressed: "We are shaken, the whole government, the whole ministry. I cannot believe it. We lost people who gave the battle for peace in the Balkans. Peace lost a friend, I lost a friend, the most capable colleague in the ministry.
Greece and Cyprus lost a tireless worker for the national interests...We offer our condolences to the families of the victims,
who were so unjustly lost."

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas called Kranidiotis' death a "national loss", stressing that he defended Hellenism's interests the world over. He also expressed his condolences over the deaths of the other five passengers on the plane.

Curriculum Vitae
YANNOS KRANIDIOTIS
Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs