46 Dead After Venezuelan Plane Crashes into Andes Mountainside

By Aaron Poehler

Published on February 22, 2008

The ATR-42-300 plane owned by Venezuela-based Santa Barbara Airlines slammed into a mountainous rock wall at an altitude of 13,500 feet, only 6 miles out from the Merida airport. No emergency signals were received from the plane at any time during its flight, but search parties were dispatched after air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane and witnesses reported seeing it go down near La Pernada lake in the El Campanario region of the Andes. However, ground searches sent out after the plane Thursday had to be recalled due to the freezing temperatures and steep elevation. After a helicopter spotted the wreckage Friday morning, search and recovery teams were airlifted to the site due to the forbidding terrain.

Officials said that the visible wreckage showed the plane was completely shattered in the collision and indicated that the chance of survivors was virtually nonexistent. Counted among the deceased are 43 passengers who were aboard the French- and Italian-made plane, along with the three flight crew members.

Santa Barbara Airlines, founded in 1995, had no accident record previous to this incident; however, records show the ATR-42-300 model has been involved in 16 other crashes worldwide in the past 20 years.

Comment on this article →