AIR LINER'S PLUNGE IN SOUTHERN DESERT

Horowhenua Chronicle, 10 September 1929, Page 8

AIR LINER'S PLUNGE IN SOUTHERN DESERT

BODIES BROUGHT ON LITTERS,

VANCOUVER, Sept. <),

All] eight bodies of the victims of the New Mexico airplane tragedy were brought into the town of Grant on litters between horses, except the women's boddos, which were so severely burned as to be unrecognisable but for the dental plates. The 'plane .first hit the top of a pme tree 00 feet from the ground. The loft motor struck the tree, when the 'plane reeled against the face of a _ rocky precipice, swung sideways and for another 100 feet, the air liner plunged, breaking off nva-ny trees and literally uprooting others. ' Dcbrw lay scattered over an area of 150 feet square.

There was evidence of a gasolene explosion, several trees being seared by scorching flames. Every piston was torn from one of the engines and thesteel cabin was melted down by the intense heat. The passengers were all hurled together into the front of the cabin when the crash came. Drenching rain probably prevented a serious forest fire following the explosion.