Trillo will take the necessary steps for the remains of the crash victims to be repatriated from the Black Sea city of Trabzon, near where the troop transport went down in severe weather conditions.

He is traveling with army investigators and doctors.

Forty members of the army, 21 members of the air force and one civil guard died in the crash. All 12 Ukrainian crew members were also killed.

The troops, mostly officers and non-commissioned officers, were on their way back from the Afghan capital Kabul and Manas in Kyrgyzstan via the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. Most were from the central Burgos region and Zaragoza.

The ill-fated plane, a Ukrainian Yakovlev 42, was operated for NATO's Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA), the executive arm of the NATO Maintenance and Supply Organization (NAMSO) which was created in 1958 by a North Atlantic Council decision.

NAMSA's services are used by all countries that are part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, according to the ministry.

WAR.WIRE