Tourist-filled jetliner goes down; 160 killed

MACHIQUES, Venezuela – The rolling pasture was filled with evidence of the horror that came crashing down Tuesday: seats, pillows, the entire tail of an airplane.

Rescuers found no survivors as they picked through the field dotted with trees and scrub brush, collecting the remains of 160 people killed when a chartered jet filled with tourists returning home to the French Caribbean island of Martinique went down in remote western Venezuela.

The tail of the West Caribbean Airways plane jutted from the ground, the only part that appeared intact.

The pilot had reported both engines failed and requested permission for an emergency landing shortly before the West Caribbean Airways jet plunged to the ground, officials said.

Workers recovered one of the plane’s black boxes, which could give clues to the cause of the crash, at the crash site near Machiques, 400 miles west of Caracas near the border with Colombia, said Air Force Maj. Javier Perez, the search and rescue chief. He said the cockpit voice recorder had not been found.

As the plane developed problems just after 3 a.m., the Colombian pilot radioed to a nearby airport in western Venezuela requesting permission for an emergency landing, saying both engines had failed. But within 10 minutes, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 fell into a steep descent and broke apart on impact, Venezuelan officials said. Residents reported hearing an explosion.

“It’s as though the sky fell on my head today,” said Claire Renette, 40, whose sister was among the dead.