Plane Wreckage Sets Fire To Forest

Chronicle (Levin), 18 February 1947, Page 5

Plane Wreckage Sets Fire To Forest

Press Assn

C0LUMB1AN AiR TRAGEDY

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Received Monday, 7.0 -p.m. BDCrux'A, ±eo. 16. First search parties reacning Mount •Tabiazo (40,000 1'eet) aiter cne a airiiner crasnecl, coiud not recover the bodies for ten nonrr necause tne oiaz-; ing -wreckage had set fire to the surrounding -lorest. The piane, beiongihg to Coiombian Avianca Aarniies, a sitosidiary ot Banamerican Vvond Air.wa-ys, was tlying t-rom the coastal city u, Barranquiila to Bogota airport wnen it apparenuy got lost in a tug apd su'uck the mouircam about 200 teet belo-w the peak, xining all the occupants comprislng four ot a crew and 50 passengers. The plane exploded with a roar heara miles distant. The wreckage plunged 2000 teet into a ravine .whieh was biazing irojn end to end when searchers arrived. -Aitnough only 30 miles from Bogota airport, tne scene of the crash is wiid Andean country . seldom visited. A pathiinder plane guided searchers from tupata, a nearuy town, which is about 300 air' mil.es trom Barranquiila. The party found fragments of wreckage including a gasoline tank and some ciotnes, on a iedge above the ravine. The preliminary death roll which is the biggest in civi] aviation history, shows that most of the victims were Ooiombians but there were nine Americans incmding the pilot and copilot, and two British oilicials of the Tropicat Oii Company. The Coiombian Government has decreed a day of national mourning.