Reports just coming through on the ticker that TANS a Perouvian Airline has a plane down in the forest region near Pucallpa and that there are some survivors. The plane was on its way from Lima to Pucallpa.
No knowledge of plane type, numbers as yet. News here
LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - A Peruvian passenger plane crashed in heavy storms in Peru's northeastern jungle Tuesday, killing at least 40 people, police said.
A spokesman for the state-run airline TANS said the Boeing 737-200 plane, which had a capacity of 120 passengers, made an emergency landing without its landing gear in the jungle town of Pucallpa, 490 miles northeast of Lima.
It was not immediately clear if the plane was taking off or landing. It was due to fly to the northern jungle city of Iquitos.
"There are 40 cadavers that rescue teams are pulling from the wreckage. There could be more deaths, we assume some 60 people in total since we've rescued 20 injured persons," a police officer in Pucallpa told RPP radio.
Peru's Transport Minister, Jose Ortiz, said 93 passengers were on board the plane. TANS declined to comment.
"It's really a Dantesque scene," said police officer Arioso Obregon, referring to the apparent destruction the aircraft.
One witness, Tomas Ruiz, told RPP radio the plane was
"totally destroyed."
"The plane made an emergency landing but without its landing gear," said firefighter Ilda Pineda. "The weather was really terrible, there was a fierce storm at the time," said a police officer in Pucallpa.
TANS, founded in the 1960s by the Peruvian air force to help serve remote jungle communities, started up as a commercial airline in 1998. It has around 30 percent of the local market.
(Additional reporting by Tania Mellado)
REUTERS
100 SOB, 92 Pax + 8 Crew. 41 dead 59 survivors. The flight made an emergency landing on a highway as they experienced windshear. One of the "black boxes" has already been found. No speculations of the cause – as of yet.
reg OB-1809-P (confirmed) B737-244 22580 ex ZS-SIA with TANS (Transportes Aéreos Nacionales de la Selva) Route: Lima-Pucallpa-Iquitos Flightnumber: TJ-204
TANS is military transport section of the Peruvian air force that runs route (to remote locations) that airlines hardly touch for lack of revenue
Last edited by Sensible Garage; 24th Aug 2005 at 09:01.
Interesting to note that this incident in Peru has only merited one page of comment whereas the Helios incident in Greece is now up to 57 pages. Perhaps just too many incidents to focus on!
Just a matter of distance : the Venezuela crash thread is only 6 pages long. The french media talk about it everyday and Pres. Chirac has traveled to Martinique for the "funeral". If the passengers had originated from Bermuda or any British West Indies island, that thread would be over 50 pages long too.
No criticism implied here, this is a mere fact of life.
I don't think it's just distance - the Helios crash is especially unsettling and mysterious, the Peruvian crash at first impression much more intuitive to explain... (and the Helios crash happened some time ago too, so the thread has had time to grow)
I don't think it's just distance - the Helios crash is especially unsettling and mysterious, the Peruvian crash at first impression much more intuitive to explain...
I agree. Don't you think that the recent accumulation of crashes might also be due to the fact that we are at the peak of the touristic season, pilots, controllers, and acft all working/flying at their limits?
Robdean, The Helios thread was up to page 16 within 24 hours. Air France at YYZ was also up to 13 pages at the 24 hour point. In peru it seems there are 11 Americans and 3 Europeans and 50 (claimed) survivors. For Air France it seems that much of the early text was praise for the crew doing their job without really knowing wheter the crew had done well or not. I don't see much of that here for the TANS crew.
I don't think so Greek-freak, after all there's a peak season every summer and there hasn't been such a terrible run of accidents/crashes for a VERY LONG TIME..
The froggies made it to the runway...albeit the last half.....but they pay lots of money to the media.and the UN...the TANS crew might have performed much more proficiently to the end...but their gov't isnt as powerful..and they didn't survive..so there you have it....aviation, and the media at it's best
