Rescue workers observe the wreckage of a West Caribbean Airways passenger plane that crashed with 160 people on board in the Sierra de Perija near Machiques in western Venezuela, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005. |
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Acharteredjet filled with tourists returning home to the French Caribbean island of Martinique crashed Tuesday in western Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board. The plane plunged to the ground after the pilot reported both engines had failed, officials said.
Wreckage wasstrewnacross a remote pasture near Machiques, 400 miles west of Caracas near the border with Colombia just east of the Sierra de Perija mountain range. From above, only the tail of the West Caribbean Airways plane could be seen intact, lying amidcharredtrees.
The crash was the deadliest in Venezuelan history, according to the Aviation Safety Network, a nonprofit group that keeps a database of air disasters. It said the death toll surpassed a 1969 crash in Venezuela that killed 155, including 71 victims on the ground.
Rescuers pulled dozens of bodies from the site and recovered one of the plane's black boxes, which could give clues to the cause of the crash, said Air Force Maj. Javier Perez, the search and rescue chief. He said thecockpitvoice recorder had not been found.
As the plane developed problems just after 3 a.m., the Colombian pilot radioed to a nearby airport in western Venezuela requesting permission for anemergency landing, saying both engines had failed. But within 10 minutes, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 fell into asteepdescent and broke apart on impact, Venezuelan officials said. Residents reported hearing an explosion.
"The plane went out of control and crashed," said Col. Francisco Paz, president of the National Civil Aviation Institute. "There are no survivors."
(Agencies)
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Updated: 2005-08-17 11:51
