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$25 000 for info on plane
26/12/2007 10:34 - (SA)
Panama City - Rescue workers and volunteers combed a mountainous area of western Panama on Tuesday in search of three US citizens and a Panamanian pilot whose small plane went missing over the weekend.
But dense tropical foliage, mountainous terrain and heavy rains were
making air and land searches in the Chiriqui province extremely
difficult, said Roberto Rolando Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the agency
that overseas the nation's air security.
Michael Klein, a 37-year-old hedge fund manager, was on vacation
with his daughter Talia, 13, and her friend Francesca Lewis, 12, at an
eco-resort he owns in the Central American nation, said ex-wife Kim
Klein in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Boquete,
Panama. The three had been scheduled to return to Santa Barbara,
California, on Monday, she said.
The group's plane, piloted by Panamanian Edwin Lasso, disappeared
after taking off on Sunday morning from Islas Secas off Panama's Pacific
coast, heading for the Chiriqui volcano, about 460km west of the capital.
The flight normally would have taken about 45 minutes, but
controllers lost contact with the craft at about noon on Sunday.
Kim Klein, who arrived in Panama on Monday morning, said the family had
located an area, based on witness accounts, where the plane may have
gone down. But she said the civilian helicopters at their disposal
could not fly over the area due to severe rain and fog.
"It has been like 50-something hours now, and we haven't been able
to do any passovers in the air at all," Klein said. "They just have
ground crews hiking through the jungle, up the mountains."
Panama's Civil Protection department said searchers flew over the
area twice Tuesday morning without any luck.
"The weather is closing the area off completely," Director Armando
Palacios said in a radio interview.
Klein, however, said the government flyovers were not over the
precise area where the family believes the plane may have gone down.
She is offering 25 000 to anyone who can locate the
aircraft, and the family is trying to get help from the US Coast
Guard, she said.
"We really need anyone we can find to give us some ground help, any
assistance to find them," Klein said.
Justin Campbell, Talia Klein's uncle, said the family was offering
to charter planes and helicopters, especially ones with infrared
scanners, to help with the search.
"There are simply not enough available there now, and time is
critical," Campbell said in a statement.
Michael Klein is the chief executive officer of Pacificore LLC, a
Santa Barbara-based company that manages several hedge funds and
founded two companies in the 1990s before becoming president and CEO of
eGroups Inc, which was the world's largest group e-mail communication
service.
Yahoo Inc purchased eGroups for $450m in August 2000 and
is now known as Yahoo Groups.
- AP
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