ACROSS ATLANTIC

Hokitika Guardian, 18 December 1929, Page 5

ACROSS ATLANTIC

FLY ENDS IN CRASH. (.United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. ] (Received this dav at 9. a.ni.) RIO DE JANERIO, Dec. 17. A report from Pernabuco states Borges and Challe made a forced landing last night at a village of Marcuja in the State of Rio Grande De Norte, near Natal, completing the flight from Seville. y. j, A message from Bahia states the flight of Lieutenant Colonel Tadea Larre Borges and Captain Leon Challe from Spain to South America ended during the night in a crash in the Brazilian coastal forests, where the aeroplane was demolished after their skill and courage of their flight across the .South Atlantic Ocean. It was little less than a miracle, their escape from death in the wreckage of the big ’plane when it rushed to its final landing near the town of Santo Antonia, some fifty miles from the coast.

Challe was slightly injured • hut Borges was unhurt. Aviation officials here are amazed that the fliers escaped so easily in the dense forest region. The aeroplane had covered a direct line, a distance of approximately 3640 miles and the news of the crash came when the entire South American coast from Natal to Buenos Ayres was anxiously awaiting word, after twelve hours in which the ’plane’s radio had been silent.

The first advice received raised a fear that the fliers had been seriously injured and medical aid was hurriedly dispatched by aeroplane, but later cheering crowds at Bahia, Rio De Janerio, Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, greeted the report that both had escaped lightly. Borges’ wife and six children heard the news at Montevideo.