|
CARACAS: A Venezuelan airliner that went missing with 46 people on
board apparently crashed in the Venezuelan Andes, a regional civil
defense official told AFP, citing witnesses in the area.
Noel Marquez, head of the Civil Defense for
Merida, which is 500 kilometers (300 miles) southwest of Caracas,
said local people in the Andean region of Coyado del Condor reported
seeing the aircraft go down.
Civil Defense Director General Antonio Rivero
confirmed to AFP that the Santa Barbara Airlines flight, reported
missing at 5:45 p.m. (2245 GMT) Thursday after departing from Merida
for Caracas’ Simon Bolivar airport, was carrying 43 passengers and
three crewmembers.
“A telephone call was received from some of
the local people. Right now rescue teams are going to the area to
confirm the information,” Marquez said.
He added that the plane, a French-Italian-made
twin-engine turbo-prop ATR42, was reported to have crashed at a
point some 4,750 meters (15,600 feet) above sea level near the La
Pernada lake.
Marquez said the aircraft had not sent any
emergency signals during its flight, but alarms went out immediately
after the aircraft failed to report to flight controllers monitoring
the route.
“Immediately a search and rescue operation was
launched. Early tomorrow [Friday] two M17 rescue helicopters will be
deployed,” Marquez added.
Rivero said about 100 rescuers were already
involved in the search for the aircraft. The first rescue team left
Thursday night for the village of Mucuchies, one hour from Merida,
and had not yet arrived at the accident site. It could take the team
more than three hours to reach the site, Marquez said by telephone,
because of the steep terrain. He added that temperatures in the area
were close to freezing.
Santa Barbara Airlines president Jorge Alvarez
said he had no concrete information about the aircraft.
“At this moment we do not have any solid or
verified information on what has happened,” Alvarez said on
television.
He said the plane was built in the 1980s and had
been maintained with oversight from civil aviation authorities. The
company, founded in Maraciabo in 1995, has no record of accidents.
It serves both domestic and international
routes, flying to Madrid, Miami, Aruba and Tenerife.
-- AFP
|
