GUATEMALA: Ten people die when a plane carrying humanitarians crashes in Eastern Guatemala

Record ID: 382218

  • Title: GUATEMALA: Ten people die when a plane carrying humanitarians crashes in Eastern Guatemala
  • Date: 25th August 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF A FEMALE VICTIM BEING CARRIED ON STRETCHER (3 SHOTS) AMBULANCES TRANSPORTING VICTIMS TO HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 9th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Guatemala
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVAAUJRD4R33LAURKPFRP0630KLH
  • Story Text: Ten people, including at least 4 U.S. citizens on a humanitarian mission and 2 pilots, died on Sunday (August 24) when a single-engine aircraft crashed in eastern Guatemala , according to local officials.
    Four injured American survivors were taken by helicopter to the capital Guatemala City from the crash site in the eastern state of Zacapa.
    Nineteen year-old Sarah Jensen, who limped a said that her father and brother were killed and her mother badly burned on her arms and legs.
    Rescue officials could be seen rushing injured passengers on stretchers to the local hospital.
    Jensen told reporters that her family had come from Wisconsin on a mission to build houses in a village near the town of El Estor close to the Caribbean coast.
    All the bodies were badly burned in the crash, making it difficult for investigators to identify them immediately, but aviation officials said the other four dead are likely Guatemalans.
    The plane, operated by the commercial airline Aereo Ruta Maya, took off earlier on Sunday morning from Guatemala City with 14 people on board.
    A Guatemalan Army official said that one of the pilots sent a distress signal to air traffic controllers shortly before the crash.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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