Quotes of the Day

The government of Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar may have been out of power for seven months, but it's still coming under heavy fire. The latest scandal concerns the May 26, 2003, plane crash that claimed the lives of 62 Spanish soldiers who were returning from peacekeeping duty in Afghanistan when their Ukrainian-registered Yakovlev-42 aircraft went down in the mountains of Turkey. Aznar's government was criticized by the families of the deceased for transporting them in an old plane in such poor condition. Now it turns out that the bodies of 30 of those soldiers were incorrectly identified — and sent to the wrong families for burial.

Last week, an investigating magistrate ordered exhumations so proper identification can be carried out. "We hope to have the identifications complete by the end of this year, so we can finally have closure," says Curra Ripollés, the spokesperson for the Association of the Families of the Yak-42 Accident. Four officers have been called to answer charges of signing false identification certificates, but the association hopes the investigation won't stop there. "There is a long list of military and civilians who have questions to answer," says Ripollés.

• JANE WALKER
• Former Spanish premier Aznar's regime continues to take the flak