Plane carrying 160 crashes in Venezuela

A Colombian passenger jet carrying 152 passengers and 8 crewmembers has crashed in Western Venezuela. Officials said the plane was travelling from Panama, headed for Martinique in the Caribbean when its pilot reported engine trouble to the Caracas airport just after 3 am (07:00 UTC). The pilot reportedly asked for permission to land at Maracaibo airport shortly before the plane went missing in the remote state of Zulia, close to the Colombian border. Locals have reported hearing explosions near the scene of the crash.

The crashed plane was a MD-82 of West Caribbean Airways based in Medellín.

The French news agency AFP reports that all passengers and crew have perished. The crash comes just two days after an airplane crash in Greece, which killed 121 people.

Sources

• "Crash d'un avion colombien: les 160 occupants tués, en majorité des Français". AFP, August 16, 2005

• "Jet Carrying 152 Crashes in Venezuela". Fox News, August 16, 2005

• "Airliner comes down in Venezuela". BBC News, August 16, 2005

• "Report: Airliner crashes in western Venezuela". CNN/Associated Press, August 16, 2005

• "Plane Crashes in Venezuela; 152 Aboard". Associated Press, August 16, 2005
  
• http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Plane_carrying_160_crashes_in_Venezuela