Bogota: Survivors of a Colombian plane crash
that left just one person dead out of the 131 people on board
have started returning home as a probe was launched into the
accident.
Two military transport planes and other special flights
with doctors on board ferried many of the passengers from
Colombia's San Andres island, where Monday's crash took place,
Colombia's transport ministry said.
They were taken to the northern Colombian city of
Barranquilla where regular flights were available to take them
to their home countries.
At least 23 people were suffering significant injuries
from the accident, which left the fuselage of the Boeing 737,
from Colombian domestic airline Aires, broken in three on the
runway.
The only fatality from the crash was that of a
73-year-old woman who died of a heart attack after being
evacuated. Colombian authorities said two other people were
seriously injured.
The investigation into the accident involved US experts.
Initial information pointed to a crash in violent
weather, with the plane believed to have been knocked around
by a sudden change in wind direction after being hit by
lightning.
A Colombian civil aviation official, Colonel Donald
Tascon, told Radio Caracol that "conditions were not optimum"
but were not so bad that the plane should have had trouble
landing.
An AFP tally counted at least 20 foreigners on board the
flight: eight French citizens, four Brazilians, four
Americans, two Costa Ricans and two Germans.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, August 18, 2010, 11:20