COLOMBIA: Airline Involved in Tragic Crash Was Facing Problems

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Márquez*

CARACAS, Aug 16 2005 (IPS) - West Caribbean Airways, whose airliner crashed Tuesday in the extreme western region of Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board, is a Colombian firm that is facing financial troubles.

In addition, it was recently forced to carry out maintenance on its aircraft after an earlier accident in March, in which eight people died.

The 160 people killed in the crash early Tuesday were 152 tourists from the French Caribbean island territory of Martinique and eight Colombian crew members.

Flight WCW-708 took off Monday night from Panama on its way to Martinique. The charter plane was a U.S.-made McDonnell Douglas MD-82.

West Caribbean Airways was set up in 1998 to provide charter flights to and from Colombia’s Caribbean region, especially serving the islands of San Andrés and Providencia. Since 2000, it has operated out of Medellín in northwestern Colombia.

It is rumoured that the Ochoa family, several of whose members formed part of the infamous Medellín drug cartel, owns part of the airline.

Colombia’s director of civil aviation Colonel Carlos Montealegre said the airliner that crashed had made 16 trips between Panama and Martinique, and that it had recently undergone maintenance which took it out of circulation for a week.

"We have just begun the investigation. It is still early to decide whether or not there will be any suspension or other punishment," said Montealegre.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Jesse Chacón said "according to the communications between the pilot and the control tower at the airport in Maracaibo (in western Venezuela), the plane crash was caused by mechanical failure."

Just a few minutes before 03:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Tuesday, when the plane was flying over the Sierra de Perijá mountains separating Colombia and Venezuela, some 700 km west of Caracas, the pilot made contact with the control tower in Maracaibo saying he needed to make an emergency landing due to problems with one of the engines.

He then reported that the second engine was failing, when the plane was flying over the plains region between the Perijá mountains and Lake Maracaibo.

"We heard an explosion, and then we saw the plane falling, trailing fire on its right side," said local farmer Joel González.

Venezuela’s aviation authorities said the airliner was apparently unable to glide to a crash landing and fell vertically, scattering pieces of the plane and bodies over an area with a radius of more than 100 metres.

The plane crashed on the La Cucharita estate in the rural municipality of Machiques, a farming area between the mountains and the lake.

Venezuelan director of civil protection Antonio Rivero said "it is a disaster zone, absolutely dreadful."

The mayor of Machiques, Alfonso Márquez, commented that "after seeing so many pieces of bodies among the smoking remains of the plane, I feel as if I have visited Dante’s inferno."

At least half of the corpses had been picked up by noon and were taken to the teaching hospital in Maracaibo for identification.

In Fort de France, the capital of Martinique, hundreds of inconsolable relatives of the victims had gathered at the airport, where the French Interior Ministry set up a crisis centre staffed by psychologists and other professionals, to provide them with assistance.

Eric Haot, the mayor of Saint-Esprit in Martinique, said at least 35 of the victims were from his town of 8,500 people. "This is a very painful, difficult moment. One group of victims were former classmates from the same school," he said.

French President Jacques Chirac stated that his country was "in mourning after this terrible air catastrophe," and sent his condolences and solidarity to the families.

He added that he would urge Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to put into motion an in-depth civilian and military investigation.

Chacón said that around 200 rescue, civil protection, army and National Guard personnel were at work in the area.

The U.S. government issued a statement through its embassy in Caracas offering assistance in investigating the accident, while Chacón guaranteed the Venezuelan government’s cooperation with the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Tuesday’s death toll was the highest for any plane crash involving Latin American or Caribbean passengers since 255 people were killed on Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines Airbus-300 crashed just after takeoff in Queens, a New York City district. The jet was on its way to the Dominican Republic.

Last week, a Helios Airways – a private Cyprus airline – plane crashed into a mountainside 35 km northeast of Athens en route from Larnaca to Prague. All 121 people on board died.

A Czech-made Let-410 belonging to West Caribbean Airways crashed Mar. 26 on the Colombian island of Providencia. The two crew members and six passengers were all killed.

* With additional reporting by Constanza Vieira in Colombia.