They Lost Their Lives in Service of Our Joint Mission

The soldiers who died a tragic death in an air disaster which claimed 42 lives seven years
ago were commemorated on Saturday, January 19 by the relatives, friends as well as the
Hungarian and Slovak military leaders at the memorial erected in the center of Hejce.

Defence Minister Martin Glváč, Maj.-Gen. Peter Voitek, the Chief of the General Staff of the
Slovak armed forces, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende and Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő, the Chief
of the Defence Staff attended the commemoration organized by the Ministry of Defence of
the Republic of Slovakia.

“I would like to thank the residents of the region, all members of the Hungarian Defence
Forces and the members of the rescue units", Martin Glváč stressed, adding that “sympathy
and humanity clearly manifested themselves through their helping hands at a time when they
were needed the most."

In his speech, Defence Minister Csaba Hende pointed out that “those soldiers carried out our
joint mission, they worked for peace together with the Hungarian troops in Kosovo, therefore
they are our dead too".

Like the Slovak Defence Minister, Csaba Hende also recalled the heroic performance which
the residents of Hejce gave after the accident, opening their homes and assisting heart and
soul the work of the search and rescue units.

Speaking about the vision for the future, the Minister stated that “our security is shared,
we are working together for peace and security within our systems of alliance, NATO and the
European Union."

After the commemoration, a signing ceremony took place of a plan on bilateral military
cooperation between our countries, which gives great weight to the Minister’s words.

The tragedy which shocked the entire Slovak nation occurred while the soldiers were
traveling home by two An-24 transport aircraft, returning from their service in Kosovo. For
reasons that remain unknown to this day, the pilot of the leading aircraft deviated from the
designated flight path by some three kilometers, and did not observe the preset altitude, so it
happened that the plane crashed into the 800-meter high Borsó-Hill.

Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky