MONTEVIDEO, Oct 11, 2009 (AFP) -

Turbulence was the likely cause of a fatal UN airplane crash that killed 11 people, Uruguay's air force said Sunday.

The Spanish-made C-212 plane was part of the United Nations monitoring force in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, and was carrying six Uruguayan soldiers and five Jordanians when it slammed Friday into the side of a mountain, killing all passengers and crew onboard.

Uruguayan officials said the bodies of the six Uruguayan soldiers will be repatriated later this week to the South American country.

The plane had been conducting a reconnaissance mission near the border with the Dominican Republic at the time of the crash.

Brazilian-led MINUSTAH has been deployed in the impoverished Caribbean nation of eight million people since mid-2004, fielding more than 9,000 uniformed personnel.

yow/sg/sah

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