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WORLD NEWS Saturday 3 december 2016

Colombia repatriates dead as airline’s licensing questioned

LUIS BENAVIDES company LaMia and the
CARLOS VALDEZ country’s aviation agency,
Associated Press which approved the ill-fat-
RIO NEGRO, Colombia (AP) ed flight Monday between
— Victims of this week’s Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and
tragic air crash in the An- Medellin, Colombia, even
des were flown home Fri- though it exceeded the
day as Bolivia’s president short-haul jet’s maximum
called for “drastic mea- flying range. Attention was
sures” against aviation of- focused on a former Boliv-
ficials who signed off on ian air force general, Gus-
a flight plan that experts tavo Vargas, who is one of
and even one of the char- LaMia’s owners and whose
ter airline’s executives said son headed the office re-
should never have been sponsible for licensing air-
attempted because of a craft in Bolivia’s civil avia-
possible fuel shortage. tion agency. As part of the
The move by President Evo investigation, the younger
Morales came after evi- Vargas was suspended
dence emerged that the Thursday along with several Chapeco Mayor Luciano Buligon stands with his hand over his heart as air force members and po-
pilot reported the plane other high-ranking aviation lice accompany the caskets containing the remains of Brazilian victims who died in a chartered
was out of fuel minutes be- officials. The airline, whose flight, to a waiting cargo plane at the military airbase in Rio Negro, Colombia, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016.
fore it slammed into a mud- only operable aircraft was The bodies are being repatriated to Chapeco, the hometown of the Brazilian soccer team whose
dy mountainside, killing all the British Aerospace 146 members were on the doomed LaMia flight along with a group of journalists, headed to the Copa
but six of the 77 people on Avro RJ85 that crashed, Sudamericana finals.
board. Among the dead was also grounded. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
were players and coaches Morales said Friday that that an inspector pointed Santa Cruz, a secretary because of “fuel prob-
from a small-town Brazil- the elder Vargas served as out irregularities in the air- said the airline had yet to lems,” although at first he
ian soccer team that was his pilot in 2006. But he said lines’ flight plan, including be notified of any sanc- didn’t make a formal dis-
headed to the finals of one that he had no knowledge the fact that the aircraft’s tions. A black rose was left tress call. He was told an-
of South America’s most of the airline’s existence fuel capacity was barely outside the door. other plane with mechani-
prestigious tournaments af- and called for a “profound enough to fly directly to Me- A recording of conversa- cal problems had priority to
ter a fairy-tale season that investigation” to explain dellin. Chavez said the air- tions between a pilot of land at the airport’s single
had captivated their soc- whether Vargas’ son, also line decided to go ahead the doomed flight and air runway and was instructed
cer-crazed nation. named Gustavo Vargas, with the flight anyway and traffic controllers, as well as to wait seven minutes.As
As an honor guard played favored the airline, which air traffic controllers had no the account of a surviving the jetliner circled, the pi-
taps early Friday, mem- has transported the nation- authority to prevent them. flight attendant, indicated lot grew more desperate.
bers of Colombia’s military al teams of Argentina and On Thursday, the airlines’ the plane ran out of fuel “Complete electrical fail-
loaded five Bolivian crew Brazil, as well as many oth- operations director told an before crashing just a few ure, without fuel,” he said.
members who died in the er top-flight South Ameri- Argentine radio network miles from Medellin’s inter- By then the controller had
crash onto a cargo plane can clubs. One of the sus- that he also had disap- national airport. gauged the seriousness of
for the trip back home. pended officials, Marcelo proved of the flight plan. In the flight’s final minutes, the situation and told the
Later in the day, caskets Chavez, the regional di- “I wouldn’t have flown di- pilot Miguel Quiroga, who other plane to abandon its
containing the remains of rector of the agency that rect,” said the executive, co-owned the airline with approach to make way for
50 Brazilian victims, many controls air traffic in Bolivia, Marco Rocha. Vargas, could be heard re- the charter jet. But it was
draped with sheets printed told The Associated Press At LaMia’s main office in questing permission to land too late.q
with their team’s green and
white logo, began the jour- Strong quake rattles houses in Peru; no deaths reported
ney to the Chapecoense
club’s hometown in south- LIMA, Peru (AP) — A strong, its epicenter was about 26 The Civil Defense depart- Peru’s altiplano, the quake
ern Brazil. Fourteen Brazilian shallow earthquake struck miles (43 kilometers) north- ment said that some houses rattled residents.
journalists traveling with the a sparsely populated area east of Huarichancara in made of adobe collapsed “It was felt, but we haven’t
team and two passengers in Peru’s southern Andes Peru’s Puno region. The in the towns of Lampa and heard of any material
from other South American near Lake Titicaca late USGS said it had a depth of Melgar. Resident Rosario damages,” a Juliaca resi-
nations were being sent Thursday, toppling some 6 miles (10 kilometers). Bustinza said a crack had dent, Ernesto Quispe, said
home on separate flights. adobe houses but appar- On its website, appeared in one of the by telephone.
The somber farewell came ently causing no casualties, the regional newspaper towers of the 17th century Earthquakes are common
as details surfaced of pos- authorities said. Los Andes said the quake Santiago Apostol church in in Peru, which is home to a
sible negligence and un- The U.S. Geological Sur- was felt in the provinces of Lampa. major stretch of the Andes
settling family ties between vey measured the quake San Roman, Melgar and In Juliaca, the most impor- and is on the Pacific’s Ring
the Bolivian-based charter at magnitude 6.3 and said Lampa. tant commercial city in of Fire.q