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'Miracle' survivors treated in Turkey©Associated PressJanuary 10, 2003 DIYARBAKIR, Turkey -- Moments after the Turkish Airlines plane crashed on landing and split apart, a screaming, burning Aliye Il unbuckled her seat belt and fell upside-down into a soft pile of grass. Il then grabbed some grass and beat herself with it to extinguish her burning hair and clothes. "I think it was a miracle," the 48-year-old mother of four said Thursday from her hospital bed. Il was among five survivors of Wednesday's crash that killed 75 people -- including four Britons, an unidentified American and a Finnish national -- in Turkey's worst air disaster in 25 years. "It's a miracle five people came out alive," Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said while visiting victims' families. "The plane was torn apart." The pilot of the British Aerospace RJ-100 missed the runway because of heavy fog. The airport in southeastern Turkey, owned by the military, lacks an Instrument Landing System to help during times of low visibility. Gul suggested better technology might have prevented the crash. On Thursday, distraught relatives gathered in a gymnasium serving as a morgue. They hunched over bodies -- many burned beyond recognition -- and tried to identify loved ones by jewelry or teeth. "How can I find him? The bodies are burned like coal," said Sukru, whose brother-in-law, Selcuk Sungunapsan, was believed among the dead. Sukru refused to give his last name. Heavy fog was factor in another fatal accident Thursday. Two military F-4 warplanes collided in Malatya province, killing four crew members.
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