Minister Gajdos Gave Awards to People Who Helped Pilot of Crashed Fighter

Bratislava, October 3 (TASR) - Defence Minister Peter Gajdos (Slovak National Party/SNS) gave awards on Thursday to people who helped the pilot of the crashed MiG-29 fighter. Lubos Hano and Lukas Lendel received a commemorative third-degree medal of the defence minister for help and saving human life at the Defence Ministry, with Chief-of-General-Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces Daniel Zmeko and Slovak Air Force chief Lubomir Svoboda in attendance. Gajdos noted that thanks to Hano and Lendel the pilot managed to get to hospital and trigger the rescue system of the armed forces. "All Slovak citizens should behave like this in such a situation and help the person in need," he said. According to Hano and Lendel, they were travelling from Nitra to Topolcany (Nitra region) on Saturday (September 29). On their way they saw a hitchhiker with a helmet in his hand, so they stopped for him. He told them that he was a MiG-29 fighter pilot, who ejected. "At first it was hard to believe," they described their feelings. The MiG-29 fighter crashed in Nove Sady (Nitra region) during a test flight. The pilot ejected. Gajdos objected to speculation about the possible causes of the accident, stressing the need to wait for the conclusions of the investigation commission. am/mcs