AVIATION

Hokitika Guardian, 20 December 1929, Page 5

AVIATION

CAUSE OF THE DISASTER. ,/ . ’PLANE HITS MOUNTAIN. [United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.] LONDON, Deo. 18. Messages f ro m Tunis state that the Fairey plane crashed during a storm in the mountainous region of ZagJiouan, southward of Tunis. Arabs discovered the airmen’s bodies beneath the wreckage Troops hurried to the , scene and they are bringing the bodies to Tunis to-morrow. No signal was received from the big plane’s wireless since she passed Sar- .. dinia at 4 o’clock on Tuesday. It was thought that possibly the Fairey was out-of range- of the home stations, ! and there as no reason to believe that a disaster had oecured. After , 24 ■ hours’ waiting, however, forebodings were and these were confirm--ed at 11 o’clock by a message reporting the. crash. The “Times’s” aerqnautical correspondent suggests that;; airmen had . flown too far to the east to avoid the main Atlas Range, and they reached . the Zaghouan spur, where the range averages four thousand feet in height, and which they must round to set a course for Capetown between sunset and moonrise. Flying low to try and fix their position, they struck a mountain in the darkness when, in a few minutes, the worst risks would have been over. MISSING FRENCH AIRMEN. ■ PARIS, Dec. 19. No news has been received of Alsalle and his companions since they left Tunis for Benhazi. The-French Air Ministry announces inquiries in Libya and Egypt have tnns far proved fruitless.