Alaska Airlines plane crashes, 88 on board

Alaska Airlines plane crashes, 88 on board
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed upside-down into the Pacific Ocean with 88 people on board after the pilot reported a mechanical problem, aviation and airline officials said on Monday. No survivors were found, although rescue workers said they would continue the search into the night, until all possibilities of finding survivors were exhausted.

The plane, a McDonnell Douglas 80, was en route from the resort town of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's western coast, to San Francisco, when it crashed at about 23:45 GMT, about 32 kilometres northwest of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), FAA officials said.

``The pilot radioed a problem with the stabiliser trim and the plane was diverted to LAX,'' Alaska Airlines spokesman Ken Boyer said, adding, ``the plane was diverting to LAX when contact was lost''. The plane was carrying 83 passengers, including three children, and five crew members, Boyer added.

Rescue teams had recovered one body so far, US Coast Guard Captain George Wright told reporters. OtherCoast Guard officials said ``some bodies'' were found, but could not specify how many. ``We're searching for survivors. It's a search and rescue case. It is my understanding that there has been a victim recovered,'' Wright said.

The US Navy sent a P-3 Orion surveillance plane. A Seahawk helicopter with night-vision capabilities were also at the scene. US television broadcast pictures of helicopters with infrared equipment and local commercial fishing boats continuing the search for bodies with the help of floodlights. Small pieces of debris had also been pictured before night fell, floating on the surface of the water amid a small fuel slick, but with no sign of the main fuselage.

``We have every resource we can muster, either on scene on en route,'' Wright told reporters.

A park ranger on Anacapa Island, South of Ventura, California, saw the plane crash and alerted the US Coast Guard, Wright said. A dozen relatives of the passengers who had not heard the news had gathered at at the arrivals gate at SanFrancisco airport, where the plane had been due to arrive at 01:11 GMT before continuing to Seattle, Washington. The relatives were taken to a private room where clergy and counselors were waiting to help them as they waited for news from the rescue effort.

``If the plane did not break up, it's possible that someone may have survived,'' said Ron Wilson, an official at the San Francisco airport. Alaska Airlines, based in Seattle, Washington, was also sending employees to help with the investigation and to work with family members, the company's Chief Executive Officer John Kelly said in a statement.

``Our first step has been to mobilise a specially-trained team of Alaska Airlines employees to support and care for family members. Meanwhile, another group of employees is being activated to assist the appropriate authorities in determining the cause of this accident,'' Kelly said.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a statement that it was sending investigators and family assistancestaff to coordinate support for victim's relatives. Commercial fishermen and boaters were volunteering their boats to help with the rescue effort, Coast Guard Lieutenant Kevin Reed said.