BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
20/02/2008
Belarus ready to deal with U.S. satellite fall
MINSK. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Emergency Situations Ministry is working on a scenario where the U.S. satellite will not be shot down by the military, but will reenter the atmosphere over the territory of Belarus.
"The Emergency Situations Ministry has enough power and resources to deal with the consequences of chemical and radioactive contamination. It only takes us several minutes to go on high alert," Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Vitaly Novitsky said in response to a question about the rescue teams' readiness to deal with the consequences of a possible satellite reentry.
"We are a permanent readiness service and we are prepared to quickly react to any emergencies, both natural and man-made," said Novitsky.
According to earlier reports, a U.S. spy satellite has malfunctioned and gone out of NASA's control. The U.S. military are going to shoot down the satellite in order for it to fall into the Pacific Ocean.
There is a slight probability that the satellite will not be shot down but will crash on the territory of Poland or Belarus.
The satellite is carrying 500 kilos of highly toxic fuel and possibly nuclear components.
Source:
http://www.interfax.com/3/367001/news.aspx
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