36 survive deadly Venezuelan crash

View of the wrecked fuselage of the Conviasa Airline plane en route to the resort city of Isla Margarita that went down Monday about 10 kilometers from Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, carrying 51 people onboard, in Puerto Ordaz, Bolivar state. The plane was on a domestic holiday flight and crashed, killing at least 15 people, officials said. Photo: AFP

Fifteen people died in a plane crash in eastern Venezuela, but 36 others survived after the pilot alerted air traffic control that something was wrong moments before disaster struck.

The plane, carrying 47 passengers and four crewmembers Monday from the Venezuelan Caribbean resort island of Margarita, burst into flames as it hit the ground near a steel works owned by Sidor, in mainland Bolivar state.

"In total, we have 36 survivors and 15 dead," Transport and Communications Minister Francisco Garces said.

Most of the survivors sustained burns and were traumatized by the event, but none are in critical condition, Garces said.

The Conviasa Airlines ATR-42-300 plane went down about 10 kilometers from Puerto Ordaz, on the Orinoco River. It broke in two and caught fire as it hit the ground.

Officials said the quick response by emergency services after the pilot warned air traffic control that the flight was in trouble prevented a higher death toll.

Rescuers arrived at the scene quickly with medical helicopters to fly the wounded to local hospitals that had been placed on alert. A burn unit was also on standby to treat those caught in the blazing wreckage.

"There's been a miracle here," said Bolivar state Governor Francisco Rangel Gomez.

President Hugo Chavez issued a statement expressing his "deepest ... condolences and solidar-ity" with the victims of the crash.

"All of us in Venezuela are in mourning, heavy with sadness for this tragedy," he said, announcing three days of official mourning across the South American country.

The plane went down at a site mostly used by Sidor to store scrap industrial material. None of its employees were injured in the crash, but they were among the first at the scene helping rescue passengers, Gomez said.

AFP