Plane Crashes on Caribbean Island, 20 DeadTwenty people were killed on Saturday when a small plane crashed while trying to land on the French Caribbean holiday island of St. Barthelemy, a police official said.He said the Air Caraibes Twin Otter hit a building and burst into flames as it came into land at around 4:30 pm local time. All 17 passengers and two crew died, an airline spokesman told reporters by telephone from the island. A man on the ground was also killed and his wife was injured. The plane had taken off shortly before from Juliana Airport on the nearby Dutch Caribbean island St. Maarten. ``Police and firecrews from St. Barthelemy helped by crews from St. Maarten are at the scene,'' the airline spokesman said. The names and nationalities of those killed were not immediately known. The spokesman said it was not yet clear why the plane crashed. The Web site for St. Barthelemy says that landing on the island can be difficult. ``The airstrip in St. Barthelemy is small, and pilots are required to have special training to land. For many, the landing, especially on a windy day, is an adventure in itself,'' the Web site says. St. Barthelemy is a French territory in the northeastern corner of the Caribbean, 125 miles east of Puerto Rico and 15 miles southeast from St. Maarten. It is little more than eight square miles and is a popular holiday resort for French tourists. (www.chinadaily.com.cn) |
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