By Silvino Velásquez, Víctor Cruz, Raúl Meoño, Mario Reyes and Ricardo Bin.
Sixteen people died, 20 were injured and burned, five were intoxicated and 16 homes were destroyed when a commercial cargo plane from the Aerial Transit Company, with offices in Miami, fell yesterday, Saturday, May 5, on the Nueva Montserrat and El Rodeo neighborhoods, in zone 7.
The aircraft had taken off from La Aurora airport heading to Miami, and 30 seconds later the pilot reported a loss of power and indicated that he was returning to the runway. That was the last communication with the control tower.
According to the deputy director of Civil Aeronautics, Natzul Méndez, the DC-6 model plane left the La Aurora Air Terminal at around 2:50 p.m., heading to Miami, transporting 28 thousand pounds of cargo, consisting of clothing and snow peas.
This is how it happened
The plane first collided with three houses in the Nueva Montserrat neighborhood, then bounced towards a field located a block away, made a violent turn and fell against the house in the Lomas del Rodeo neighborhood, located on 4a. 40-15 street. There it exploded and caught fire. The plane’s turbines and parts of the fuselage fell into other homes. The flammability of the plane’s fuel caused a large fire.
The crew died and six people were also charred. Police reported the death of a child who was riding a bicycle when the accident occurred.
Swallows explode
The spilled fuel leaked into the gutters of said colony, which caused, when it joined the underground gases, a series of explosions to occur that lifted the cement covers, causing panic among the crowd gathered a short distance from the wreckage of the plane.
Death toll
The death toll in the air disaster last Saturday rose to 23. The panorama at the scene of the fateful event was one of crying and pain, especially among the people who lost their relatives and who could not easily identify them.
Five people were also reported missing. During the course of Sunday the 6th, three experts on air accidents from North American aviation arrived in our country. Three representatives from an American insurance company also arrived to begin the corresponding investigations to cover the damages caused.
*With information from editions 12300 and 12301
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