Relatives of passengers onboard a flight reported missing while flying from the southern Venezuela town of Merida to Caracas wait for news at the Simon Bolivar airport in Maiquetia on Thursday 2/21/08.
Plane missing in Venezuela, 46 on board
Rescuers dispatched after contact with commercial airplane lost
CARACAS, Venezuela - A commercial airliner with 46 people on board was reported missing Thursday over western Venezuela, officials said.
Rescuers rushed to a mountainous region of Merida state as authorities struggled to confirm reports that the aircraft had been located.
The twin-engine plane owned by Venezuelan airline Santa Barbara failed to contact control towers as expected after it took off from Merida en route to Simon Bolivar International Airport outside of Caracas, said Gen. Antonio Rivero, Venezuela's emergency management director.
Rivero said authorities in Merida state were checking "information regarding the possible discovery of the plane" in a mountainous region of Merida, which borders neighboring Colombia. But he said in an interview on state television that officials have no information on what condition the plane could be in. He did not elaborate.
The French-made ATR 42-300 carrying 43 passengers and three crew members took off from Merida's airport about 5 p.m. and was declared missing 30 minutes later, officials said. The duration of the flight was to have been an hour and 45 minutes.
Noel Marquez, director of Venezuela's emergency management agency in Merida, said rescue teams were on their way to the mountains, some more than 16,000 feet above sea level.
"We are going to wait for the teams to reach the area to confirm if the plane is effectively in the zone and in what conditions it was found," Marquez said.
The area where it disappeared lies about 400 miles southwest of Caracas.
Santa Barbara is a small Venezuelan airline that covers domestic routes.
This developing story will be updated.
