Plane crashes in Suriname, killing 10

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02/10/2001 - Updated 05:07 PM ET Plane crashes in Suriname, killing 10

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) — A plane crashed into a mountainside in the interior of Suriname on Saturday killing all 10 people on board, including six Brazilians, authorities said.

The twin-engine plane was on a charter flight from the South American nation's capital, Paramaribo, to Jakobkondre, a gold-mining town about 40 miles to the southwest, said Civil Aviation Authority head John Veira.

Rescue workers had reached the crash site a half-mile from Jakobkondre and were pulling the bodies from the burned wreckage, Veira said. It was still unclear what caused the crash, he said.

The propeller-powered Nomad had fallen out of radio contact, and personnel at the Jakobkondre airstrip said it was flying low and crashed into a mountain, where they saw a plume of smoke rise, said Lex Gummels of Gum Airlines, which owns the aircraft.

The pilot was his brother, Piep Gummels, he said.

The three other Surinamese on the plane were from Jakobkondre, he said. There were six Brazilian citizens on the flight, which is popular with Brazilian gold miners who work near Jakobkondre and travel to buy supplies in Paramaribo, the capital.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-02-10-suriname.htm

-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), February 10, 2001


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