Plane crashes kill 124

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32810, 10 January 1972, Page 11

Plane crashes kill 124

(N. Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) MADRID, Jan. 9. Two plane crashes killed 124 persons on Friday; a Caravelle with 104 aboard crashed into a mountain on a Mediterranean island and a Hawker Siddeley 748, carrying 20, dived into a Mexican swamp. The 104 victims of the Mediterranean accident, on the holiday island of Ibiza, were buried yesterday at a mass funeral on the island. It took place as airline officials opened an inquiry into the crash of the Iberia Airline’s Caravelle jet, the worst airline accident involving a Spanish plane. All 98 passengers—two of them foreigners—and the flane’s crew of six were tilled instantly, an airline spokesman said. The airliner crashed into the mist-covered St Joseph Peak (800 ft after a scheduled flight from Valencia, on the mainland. The plane, which was believed to have been starting its landing approach, crashed

about nine miles from Ibiza Airport. The airport control said that all seemed normal before the crash—the pilot,

Jose Luis Ballester, was joking about having a beer when he landed, when suddenly the radio went dead. A West German and an American were the only foreigners aboard the twinengined jet. The Spanish victims were mainly islanders returning home after a holiday on the Spanish mainland. MEXICAN CRASH In Mexico, meanwhile, an Army patrol has entered the swamplands round the Cacalar lagoon in the Yucatan Peninsula, 575 miles east of Mexico City, to examine the wreck of the Mexican airliner which crashed with 20 people aboard. Pilots who flew over the wreckage said there was no sign of survivors. Authorities at Merida airport, where the Hawker Siddeley, of Special Air Services, was bound from Mexico City, said the crash took place in poor visibility. The plane carried 15 passengers and five crew. Fire sequel The police in Seoul are preparing to prosecute 20 persons in connection with the fire on Christmas Day at the Taeyongak Hotel in Seoul, the most disastrous hotel fire in history. Nine of the accused, including the owner, Kim Yong San, and four other hotel owners, three former municipal and fire officials and a contractor’s employee, are under arrest. The police have concluded that improper construction of the hotel building and careless handling of gas fuel were responsible for the disaster in which 163 people died.— Seoul, Jan. 6. Actress breaks leg The actress, Lucille Ball, aged 61, has broken her right leg while ski-ing at Snow-mass-at-Aspen, near Aspen. Her condition is satisfactory. —Aspen (Colorado), Jan. 9.