Machique, Venezuela
A Colombian airliner crashed near the town of Machiques in remote western Venezuela this week, killing all 152 passengers and eight crew members on board. Military planes and helicopters rushed to the area, but government officials said there was no way anyone could have survived the crash. “Residents in the area said they heard an explosion,” said Francisco Paz, president of the National Civil Aviation Institute. The chartered West Caribbean Airways plane was flying from Panama to the French Caribbean island of Martinique. At around 3 a.m. the pilot radioed the Caracas airport to report trouble with both engines. Ten minutes later the plane went silent.
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