153 French tourists killed

2005-08-16 17:15

Paris - All 153 passengers were killed in a plane crash on Tuesday in Venezuela, the French civil aviation authority said.

The passengers all were French citizens from Martinique, officials said.

The West Caribbean Airways flight was flying from Panama to the Caribbean island of Martinique when it crashed in western Venezuela with at least 158 people on board, including crew, Venezuelan officials said.

Early indications were that the plane may have experienced engine trouble, the French aviation authority said, citing the French gendarmerie.

The airline said in a statement that 152 passengers and eight crew members were aboard.

An official with Colombia's civil aviation agency said six crew members were on board, all Colombians.

The discrepancies couldn't be immediately reconciled.

All 153 were holidaymakers on an organised vacation to Panama, said Christian Edmond-Mariette, an official at the mayor's office in Fort-de-France, the Martinique regional capital.

President Jacques Chirac quickly dispatched France's minister for overseas territories to Martinique, a French Caribbean island.

A crisis centre was opened at the foreign ministry to maintain contacts with Venezuelan authorities and families of victims.

Chirac expressed his "strong emotion" as he learned of the "appalling catastrophe" and offered condolences to families of victims "in the name of all French," a statement from his office said.

- AP