WORLD : Soviets Apologize for Crash, Offer Compensation to Family of Victim

BRUSSELS —  Soviet Ambassador Felix Bogdanov officially apologized today for the crash of a Soviet fighter-bomber in Belgium on Tuesday and said his country will compensate the family of the man killed in the crash.

In Moscow, defense officials said today that Soviet controllers lost track of the plane whose pilot bailed out over Poland and only learned from Western news agencies that it had crashed 500 miles away in Belgium and killed the man.

Col. Gen. Bronislaw Omelichev, the first deputy chief of staff, blamed the MIG-23’s pilot for mistaking a balky afterburner for engine failure and bailing out prematurely, the official Soviet press agency Tass reported.

Omelichev told incredulous legislators in the Soviet Parliament that the air force knew immediately of the fighter-bomber’s problem but could not locate it after the pilot ejected.