MISSING AIRLINER

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 September 1946, Page 7

MISSING AIRLINER

SEARCHERS UNABLE TO LOCATE WRECKAGE 44 PERSONS ON BOARD NEW YORK, September 18. Search parties, including Army parachutists, have so far been unable in the fog to locate the wreckage lighted in Newfoundland from the air and believed possibly to be the Belgian Sabena airliner which is missing on a flight from Brussels to New York. A flying-boat searching for the aeroplane to-day sighted three wrecks, one apparently new, but poor visibility prevented satisfactory examination from the air or a landing on the lake in the area. The crew of the search aeroplane said that no sign of life was seen near any of the three wrecks. Sabena air line officials hold out hope that the aeroplane may have made a -safe emergency landing in Newfoundland or Labrador. If their hopes are unfounded, and all the 44 occupants lost, it will be among the worst commercial aviation disasters in history. Airport officials say that the pilot of the airliner was heard reporting by radio at 4.37 a.m. that he was approaching the field at 2000 feet and expected to land within four minutes. The airliner, carrying 37 passengers and a crew of seven, was earlier reported about 12 hours overdue in Newfoundland from Europe, and the Coast Guard reported that aircraft wreckage had been sighted north-east of Gander, Newfoundland. The aircraft is a Skymaster. It left Shannon, Eire, late on Tuesday night. It was over Gander early this morning. SURVIVORSOF CRASH SIGHTED (Rec. 1 p.m.) NEW YORK, September 19. The wreckage of the Belgian airliner has been sighted by a search plane in the hilly lake country 22 miles south-west of the Gander (Newfoundland) airport. It is reported that five survivors, two men, two women and one child, were sighted near the crashed plane. The Sabena Company confirmed th?t there were some survivors but the exact number is not known yet.