Scavengers Raid Crashed Peruvian Airliner
Hundreds of scavengers combed through the wreckage of a Peruvian airliner last week, carrying away scrap metal, passengers´ belongings and electronic equipment that could offer clues into what caused the crash that left at least 37 dead.
But even before an official investigation was under way into the Tuesday crash of the TANS Airline Boeing 737-200, aviation experts were beginning to cast blame on the pilot, saying his extensive background as a fighter pilot may have prompted him to take risks civilian pilots would not consider.
"I´m collecting this for my house to hang my laundry," said Rosario Dahua, 47, as she tugged at a tangle of heavy black wires next to a partially submerged turbine jet engine wedged in the water and mud.
The airliner was carrying 98 people on a domestic flight from the Peruvian capital of Lima to Pucallpa when it crash-landed Tuesday in a marsh a few miles from the Pucallpa Airport, company spokesman Jorge Belevan said Wednesday.
Air Force Cmdr William Rodriguez, in charge of security at the site, said yesterday he did not believe the people would impede the work of civil aviation investigators who had not yet arrived.
"We are verifying that all the bodies have really been recovered," Rodriguez said. "So if these people want to search for things, perhaps they´ll encounter another body."
