Breaking News/Plane with 6 crashes in AZ, no sign of survivors

A small plane with six people aboard, including three children, crashed in flames in mile-high mountains on Phoenix's eastern outskirts, leaving one child confirmed dead and no signs of any survivors, authorities said.

A helicopter search light looks over the scene of an aircraft that crashed in the Superstition Mountains in Apache Junction, on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. The small plane with three adults and three children on board crashed into the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix on Wednesday, and there was no sign of survivors, authorities said. [AP Photo/Tim Hacker East Valley Tribune)

Preliminary reports indicate the two-engine aircraft flew from Safford to Mesa's Falcon Field to pick up three children for the Thanksgiving holiday and was headed back to Safford in southeastern Arizona, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said.
The aircraft slammed into an area of rugged peaks and outcroppings in the Superstition Mountains, 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix, at about 6:30 p.m. MST. authorities said.
Callers reported hearing an explosion near a peak known as the Flat Iron, close to Lost Dutchman State Park, Sheriff's spokeswoman Angelique Graham said.
Witnesses reported a fireball and an explosion.

"I looked up and saw this fireball and it rose up," Dave Dibble told KPHO-TV . "All of a sudden, boom."
Sheriff's spokesman Elias Johnson said the body of one child was recovered late Wednesday night from the crash scene, but additional details weren't released.
No names were immediately released. The children reportedly were between the ages of 5 and 9. A pilot, a mechanic and another adult were also on board, Babeu said.
Rescue personnel used infrared devices to search for bodies, but had not been able to detect any sign of movement, according to Johnson.

"It does not look promising," Babeu said at a news conference. "We will search throughout the night."
Rescue crews flown in by helicopter to reach the crash site reported finding two debris field on fire, suggesting that the plane broke apart on impact.
"The fuselage is stuck down into some of the crevices of this rough terrain, and we're doing our best at this point in the darkness," Babeu said. "This is not a flat area, this is jagged peaks, almost like a cliff-type rugged terrain."

Video showed several fires burning on the mountainside, where heavy brush is common. Flames could still be seen from the suburban communities of Mesa and Apache Junction hours after the crash.
The region is filled with steep canyons, soaring rocky outcroppings and cactus. Treasure hunters who frequent the area have been looking for the legendary Lost Dutchman mine for more than a century.
Some witnesses told Phoenix-area television stations they heard a plane trying to rev its engines to climb higher before apparently hitting the mountains. The elevation is about 5,000 feet at the Superstition Mountains' highest point.

Calls to Falcon Field, which mostly serves small, private planes, weren't immediately returned Wednesday night.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the Rockwell AC-69 was registered to Ponderosa Aviation Inc. in Safford. A man who answered the phone Wednesday night at Ponderosa Aviation declined comment.
Kenitzer said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the cause of the crash.

 (c) Associated Press
_______________________________________________________________________

»»  read more

Mexico Interior Secretary Blake Mora dies in helicopter crash

Mexico's Secretary of the Interior, Francisco Blake Mora, has died in a helicopter crash outside Mexico City, officials say.

Mexican Secretary of the Interior Francisco Blake Mora in Mexico City - 4 October 2011

The helicopter was travelling to Cuernavaca in neighbouring Morelos state for a meeting of prosecutors when it went down.
All eight people on board were killed. It is not clear what caused the crash.
Mr Blake Mora, 45, was appointed to the post last year and was a key figure in the war against drug cartels.
The helicopter had initially been reported missing. Some Mexican media reports said there was heavy cloud at the time.
"Unfortunately the interior secretary, his [assistants] and the helicopter crew were found dead," government spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said.
Spanish news agency Efe said Deputy Interior Secretary Felipe Zamora and the interior ministry's chief press officer Alfredo Garcia were also on the helicopter.
The interior secretary is Mexico's senior cabinet position and the top official after the president, with responsibility for domestic affairs and security.
Mr Blake was President Felipe Calderon's fourth interior secretary. One of his predecessors, Juan Camilo Mourino, was killed in a plane crash in Mexico City three years ago.
Mr Blake began his political career in the north-western border city of Tijuana in the mid-1990s, Associated Press news agency said. He later served in the federal congress.
He earned a reputation as being a hardliner in Mexico's struggle with drug cartels.
More than 40,000 people are reported to have died from drug-related violence since President Calderon sent in the army to help combat the cartels in 2006.

»»  read more

Plane Crash in Forests of Papua New Guinea Reportedly Kills 28

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea –  Twenty-eight people were killed and four others survived when their plane crashed into the remote forests of Papua New Guinea, Australian officials said Friday.
The survivors of Thursday's crash include an Australian pilot and a New Zealand pilot, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement.
The Airlines PNG Dash 8 aircraft crashed while flying from Lae to the resort hub of Madang on the South Pacific island nation's north coast, Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation Commission spokesman Sid O'Toole said.
The twin-propellor plane crashed 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Madang, he said. Police and ambulances had reached the crash site and investigators were traveling there Friday, he said.
Australian consular officials were also planning to travel to Madang on Friday.
"Initial indications are that there are no Australians amongst those killed," Australia's foreign affairs department said in a statement.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. television cited Madang residents as saying there was a violent storm in the area at the time of the crash.
In a statement, Airlines PNG said a full investigation was under way into the cause of the accident. The airline said it has temporarily grounded its fleet of 12 Dash 8 aircraft.
Most of the passengers were parents traveling to attend their children's university graduation ceremony in Madang this weekend, according to the Australian Associated Press news agency.
The duty manager at the Madang Resort, Donald Lambert, said six of the plane's occupants -- one passenger and five crew members -- had reservations to stay at his hotel.
"I went to meet them at the airport," he said.

(FOX NEWS)

»»  read more

All 18 dead in Indonesian plane crash

The wreckage of the airplane that crashed lies in among the trees at mount Hulusekelem in Bahorok, North Sumatra, on Friday

1ST OCT 2011(CNN) -- Authorities have found all 18 bodies of passengers and crew aboard a plane that crashed in western Indonesia, a search official said Saturday.
Rescuers reached the wreckage even though the search effort was hampered by bad weather, said Agus Wibisono of the National Search and Rescue Agency.
They had been searching for the plane after air traffic controllers lost contact with it Thursday morning shortly after it took off from an airport in North Sumatra.
It was bound for the Kutacane district in Aceh province when it crashed in the mountains in North Sumatra, said Henry Bakti, Indonesia's director general for air transportation.
Passengers included two children and two infants, Bakti said. Nusantara Buana Air owns the plane, which services destinations in Aceh.
Airplanes are the primary mode of transportation between Indonesia's scattered islands.In May, a plane that crashed off the coast of Kaimana killed at least 15 people.
Indonesia's poor aviation record has led the European Union and the United States to blacklist a number of the country's small airlines, including Nusantara Buana Air.

»»  read more

WNews/Tourist Flight Crashes in Nepal, Killing 19 Aboard

Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather at the wreckage of a Beechcraft 1900D operated by Buddha Air after it crashed in the mountains outside Bisankunarayan village, just south of Katmandu, Nepal, early Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011. (Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

 Associated Press KATMANDU, Nepal September 25, 2011 (AP)

Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather at the wreckage of a Beechcraft 1900D operated by Buddha Air after it crashed in the mountains outside Bisankunarayan village, just south of Katmandu, Nepal, early Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011. (Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

A plane carrying tourists to view Mount Everest crashed while attempting to land in Nepal on Sunday, killing all 19 people on board, including 13 foreigners, officials said.

Ten Indians, two Americans and one Japanese were among the victims, Tourism Secretary Ganeshraj Joshi said.

The turboprop plane belonging to Buddha Air was also carrying three Nepalese passengers and three crew members when it crashed in Bisankunarayan village, just a few miles (kilometers) south of the capital, Katmandu.

A witness, Haribol Poudel, told Avenues Television that the plane hit the roof of a house in the village and broke into several pieces. No casualties were reported on the ground.

Poudel said it was foggy and visibility was very low in the mountainous area.

Rewant Kuwar, an official at Katmandu's international airport rescue office, said 18 bodies were pulled out of the plane's wreckage, and another victim died after being rushed to a hospital.

The two Americans were identified as Andrew Wade and Natalie Neilan, while the Japanese citizen was Toshinori Uejima. Their hometowns and other details were not immediately known.

The Beechcraft 1900D plane — manufactured by Raytheon Aircraft, now known as Hawker Beechcraft — had taken the passengers to view Mount Everest and other peaks on a one-hour "mountain flight" and was returning to Katmandu.

The government ordered an investigation into the crash.

The weather on Sunday morning was foggy and the visibility was poor around Katmandu, according to meteorologist Rajendra Shrestha. The surrounding mountains were enveloped in fog and it was raining at the time of the crash.

The bodies were flown by army helicopter to Katmandu airport and transported to the Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital for post-mortems.

Relatives of the Nepalese victims waited outside the hospital to claim the bodies, but were told by police that they would only be able to do so on Monday. Most Nepalese believe that people have to be cremated within a day of their deaths.

Officials from the Indian and U.S. embassies visited the hospital but did not speak to media.

»»  read more