Santo Domingo: Suspicious Plane Crashes

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Nando Times

Suspicious plane crashes in Santo Domingo; seven dead

The Associated Press

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (January 28, 2001 8:30 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - A small plane suspected of carrying illegal immigrants to the United States crashed Sunday in the Dominican Republic, killing at least seven people.

The twin-engine plane left Santo Domingo early Sunday and crashed in the mountainous Tamboril region about 125 miles north of the capital, Civil Aviation director Anibal Amparo Garcia Diaz said.

While the flight plan said the plane was heading to the resort town of Puerto Plata with a pilot and two passengers aboard, seven bodies were found, and the pilot named in the flight plan was not on board, Garcia Diaz said.

"We presume they were trying a new way of trafficking illegals," he said.

Rescuers were still searching through the wreckage because they were not sure how many people were on board. Officials have not identified the victims and said some of them may have been carrying false identification.

The cause of the accident has not been determined.

Each year, thousands of Dominicans try to make it by boat to the neighboring U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Immigration agents in Puerto Rico say they stopped 600 Dominicans trying to enter illegally in the last two months.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), January 28, 2001


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