Remains of Four Found at Colombia Crash Site

 By Rudi Williams
 
American Forces Press Service


 WASHINGTON -- A U.S.-Colombian search team
 recovered remains of four Americans aboard a U.S.
 Army reconnaissance plane that slammed into a
 mountain July 23 while on a counterdrug mission,
 DoD spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said.

 Quigley told reporters at a July 29 briefing the
 identities of those found were not known. The
 remains were flown to the Colombian capital of
 Bogota, where forensic experts will try to identify
 them. One American and two Colombians also aboard
 the aircraft were still missing at the time of the
 briefing.

 The five Americans are the first killed in an
 aviation accident while on a counterdrug mission in
 Colombia, according to Army spokesman Capt. Jack
 Miller of the U. S. Southern Command in Miami.

 "We continue to search for the other three we know
 to have been on board the aircraft," Quigley said.
 "The search and recovery party is still on the
 ground continuing to work, but the weather is not
 in our favor."

 Wreckage was spotted Sunday about 7,500 feet up the
 mountainside, but thick clouds and steep jungle
 terrain hampered rescue efforts.

 Quigley said DoD is investigating the cause of the
 plane crash. He ruled out hostile fire from
 communist guerrillas in the area.

 The aircraft that crashed was a RC-7 reconnaissance
 plane, a modified De Havilland commercial aircraft.
 Quigley said it is well-suited for the kind of
 counterdrug surveillance missions flown in
 Colombia. It was packed with sophisticated
 eavesdropping and photographic equipment to gather
 information on drug traffickers' movements and to
 photograph illegal drug crops.

 Quigley said the United States assists the
 Colombians in the counterdrug mission "because it's
 to everyone's interest that we do whatever we can
 to stop the production, distribution and export of
 illegal drugs. We work closely with the Colombian
 government and their national police to provide
 training, intelligence support, equipment to do
 what we can to stop the flow of drugs out of
 Colombia."

 

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul1999/n07301999_9907303.html