10 dead, including 5 Americans in Guatemala air crash

GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) — Ten people, including five US citizens, were killed and four others were injured Sunday when a propeller aircraft crashed on a hill near El Puente, in eastern Guatemala, officials said.

"The accident happened on a hill near this village when the TG-JES flight crashed for unknown reasons. According to preliminary information at least 14 people were aboard," said Volunteer Fire Department spokesman Carlos Salazar.

Nine Americans and five Guatemalans were traveling aboard the aircraft, said Civil Aeronautics Agency director Juan Jose Carlos.

Five of the fatalities were US citizens, the other five were Guatemalans, including the pilot and co-pilot, he added.

The four survivors, all Americans, were flown to Guatemala City hospitals, Salazar said.

The aircraft, belonging to Aeroruta Maya company, was flying from the Guatemala City suburb of La Aurora to El Estor, in northern Izabal department, when it crashed on a hill near El Puente, in eastern Zacapa department.

Aeroruta Maya manager Richard Calloway said the pilot landed on a flat area but apparently lost control when the aircraft hit a pothole.

"The airplane did not explode on landing, but later. Spilled fuel on the ground caught fire. Otherwise nobody would have survived," Calloway told reporters after he returned from the accident site.

A preliminary report by the Civil Aeronautics Agency said the pilot reported some mechanical failure before radio contact broke off at 1540 GMT.

Calloway said the airplane was a single-engine, Cessna Caravan 208 with a capacity for 12 passengers and two crew members. It was five or six years old and had all safety inspections up to date.

One of the survivors, 19-year-old Sarah Jensen, told reporters her parents, brother and other Americans on the flight had just arrived in Guatemala from the US state of Wisconsin to take part in a US government-run humanitarian program in Guatemala.

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Fonte: Flight Safety Information 26/08/2008.