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No survivors found in Venezuelan plane wreckage
No survivors have been found in in the wreckage of a plane carrying 46 people that crashed on Thursday in Venezuela's Andes mountains, a rescue worker told a local television station on Friday.
- Agencies
- Published: 18:28 February 22, 2008
Caracas: No survivors have been found in in the wreckage of a plane carrying 46 people that crashed on Thursday in Venezuela's Andes mountains, a rescue worker told a
local television station on Friday.
Search team officials said they spotted the wreckage in the El Paramo region, from a helicopter flying over high-altitude, steep mountainsides, adding that the aircraft appeared to be completely destroyed.
The twin-engined plane crashed just a few kilometres from the mountain city of Merida, notoriously difficult for pilots to navigate around, after taking off from there for the capital of Caracas on Thursday evening.
Overnight search teams had also trekked through rugged
terrain, and at daylight on Friday aircraft scoured the Andes.
There was no evidence the pilot made distress calls to air
traffic controllers, officials said.
The aircraft was operated by local airline Santa Barbara.It serves both domestic and international routes, flying to Madrid, Miami, Aruba and Tenerife.
The company, founded in Maraciabo in 1995, has no record of accidents.
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