CRASH IN SEA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23425, 15 August 1939, Page 9

CRASH IN SEA

AMERICAN AIRCRAFT TEN BODIES RECOVERED TWO IN SUNKEN MACHINE RIO DE JANEIRO TRAGEDY By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received August ~l'\, 5.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, Aug. 13 A twin-engined Pan American flying-boat bnrst into flames and sank in the harbour at Kio de Janeiro, when en route to Buenos Aires from Miami, Florida. Twelve of the 16 persons aboard were killed. They included Pilot A. G. Person, veteran of a million miles of flying in transport aeroplanes and his co-pilot, George King, recently transferred from the Pacific service, also a Yale University professor. It lias been ascertained that the flying-boat struck a submerged dredger while landing in semi-darkness. It broke into throe pieces and.caught fire. Ten bodies have been recovered and two others are believed to be in tbe sunken wreckage. The survivors' injuries are believed to be slight. FLIERS FEARED LOST ATLANTIC VENTURE NO SIGN 0l r AMERICANS OVERDUE IN. IRELAND (Received August 14, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 13 Tbe Admiralty announces that hope lias been practically abandoned for tbe two American airmen, Alex Loeb, aged 32, and Dick Decker, 23, who, announcing their destination as Ireland, took off from Point Miehaud beach, Nova Scotia, on Friday at 9 a.m. (Eastern standard time) in a Ryan monoplane, carrying .350 gallons of petrol.

The fliers should have arrived about noon yesterday. Ships have been warned to keep a look-out for them, but the only hope is that they have been picked up by a ship without wireless.

Loeb and Decker remarked prior to their departure that they were friends of Douglas Corrigan, the airman who said he took the wrong way and landed in Ireland, and that he had given them many valuable pointers.