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WORLD NEWS Thursday 1 december 2016

Pilot told Colombia controllers ‘no fuel’ before crash

FERNANDO VERGARA waiting cargo plane sent
JOSHUA GOODMAN by the Brazilian air force to
Associated Press repatriate the bodies.
MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) Alfredo Bocanegra, head
— The pilot of the chartered of Colombia’s aviation
plane carrying a Brazilian agency, said that while ev-
soccer team told air traf- idence initially pointed to
fic controllers he had run an electrical problem, the
out of fuel and desperately possibility the crash was
pleaded for permission to caused by lack of fuel has
land before crashing into not been ruled out. Planes
the Andes, according to a need to have enough ex-
leaked recording of the fi- tra fuel on board to fly at
nal minutes of the doomed least 30 to 45 minutes to
flight. In the sometimes another airport in the case
chaotic exchange with the of an emergency, and
air traffic tower, the pilot of rarely fly in a straight line
the British-built jet could be because of turbulence or
heard repeatedly request- other reasons.
ing authorization to land. Before being taken offline,
“Complete electrical fail- the website of LaMia, the
ure, without fuel,” he said Bolivian-based charter
in the tense final seconds company, said the BAE 146
before the plane set off on Avro RJ85 jetliner’s maxi-
a four-minute death spiral A black ribbon is wrapped around the Pathfinder monument in Chapeco, Brazil, Wednesday, Nov. mum range was 2,965 ki-
that ended with it slam- 30, 2016, in mourning for members of the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer team, who perished in lometers (1,600 nautical
ming into a mountainside an airplane crash near Medellin, Monday evening. Colombian authorities on Wednesday were miles) — just under the
working to finish identifying the bodies of the victims before repatriating them to Brazil.
Monday night. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) distance between Medel-
A female controller could lin and Santa Cruz, Bolivia,
be heard giving instruc- including members of Bra- nance history to the voice Medellin and the southern where the flight originated
tions as the aircraft lost zil’s Chapecoense soccer and instruments data in Brazilian town of Chapeco, carrying close to its full pas-
speed and altitude about team traveling to Medel- the black boxes recovered where the team is from, senger capacity.
eight miles from Medel- lin for the Copa Sudameri- Tuesday at the crash site were converging on the “If this is confirmed by the
lin’s international airport. cana finals — the culmi- on a muddy hillside. The two cities’ soccer stadiums investigators it would be
Just before going silent the nation a fairy tale season U.S. National Transportation for simultaneous candle- a very painful because it
pilot said he was flying at that had electrified soccer- Safety Board was taking light vigils. The six survivors stems from negligence,”
an altitude of 9,000 feet crazed Brazil. part in the investigation be- were recovering in hospi- Bocanegra told Cara-
and made a final plea for A full investigation is ex- cause the plane’s engines tals, with three in critical but col Radio on Wednesday
a landing code: “Vectors, pected to take months were made by an Ameri- stable condition, while fo- when asked whether the
senorita. Landing vectors.” and will review everything can manufacturer. rensic specialists worked to plane should not have at-
The recording, obtained from the 17-year-old air- As the probe continued, identify the victims so they tempted such a long haul.
Wednesday by Colom- craft’s flight and mainte- mourning soccer fans in could be transferred to a q
bian media, appeared to
confirm the accounts of a Nicaragua:
surviving flight attendant
and a pilot flying nearby Foes of canal say police trying to disrupt protest
who overheard the frantic
exchange. These, along
with the lack of an explo- MANAGUA, Nicaragua Sovereignty said Tuesday to dissent.” Sceptics have Caribbean Sea and Pacific
sion upon impact, point (AP) — Opponents of a Chi- that police had threatened doubted whether the ca- Ocean is to pass through
to a rare case of fuel run- nese company’s planned drivers, seized vehicles and nal concession, granted in Lake Nicaragua. About
ning out as a cause of the interoceanic canal across roughed up opponents. 2014 to a Chinese compa- 7,000 families living along
crash of the jetliner, which Nicaragua charged that Canal spokesman Telema- ny, will ever be built. It has the route face displace-
was flying at its maximum police have set up road- co Talavera denied that. barely broken ground. ment. The government says
range. blocks and are harassing “There is no police harass- Critics say the canal pro- the $50 billion canal will
For now, authorities are demonstrators heading to ment of farmers,” he told posal threatens to displace create 50,000 jobs.
avoiding singling out any a Wednesday protest in the local media. “If they are rural communities and The march Wednesday
one cause of the crash, nation’s capital. marching, it is because damage the environment. would be the fifth large
which killed all but six of The National Council in De- they believe there will be a The 171-mile (276-kilome- demonstration against the
the 77 people on board, fense of the Land, Lake and canal. They have the right ter) waterway between the canal.q