U.S. Envoy’s Wife Among 29 Lost in Andes Crash

The wreckage of an Eastern Airlines jetliner was found Wednesday night on the side of Illimani Mountain, 20 hours after it was reported missing, U.S. officials said.

There apparently were no survivors among the 29 passengers and crew that included eight Americans, among them the wife of the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay.

Americans aboard a search plane saw the wreckage of the Boeing 727 imbedded in deep snow 19,600 feet above sea level, Charge d’Affaires William Walker said. Only the tail of the plane was visible, the search party reported.

Among the Americans aboard were Marianne Davis, wife of U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay Arthur H. Davis, the U.S. State Department said. William Kelly, director of the Peace Corps in Paraguay, was also aboard, according to airport officials.

Richard McGraw, an Eastern Airlines senior vice president in Miami, said:

“They have sighted a wreckage. There are no visible markings on the airplane. We can’t tell if it’s an Eastern airplane. There are no Eastern colors, no Eastern logo. It appears to be a recent or fresh wreckage. We’re reasonably convinced that it’s our airplane.”

Illimani Mountain rises nearly 21,000 feet above sea level and is covered with snow the year around. The plane was sighted above the Urana Mine, about 35 miles southeast of La Paz, officials said.

An 11-man Red Cross rescue team was en route to the mine. However, officials said the area was not accessible by either road or helicopter. The closest village to the crash site is La Palca. Rescue operations were not expected to begin until today because of darkness.

The wreckage also was sighted by a Bolivian air force plane. Bolivian air force Col. Grover Rojas said: “It appears the plane crashed head-on, and the shape of a plane is clearly visible. The remains of the plane are scattered over a large area. We rule out any possibility of survivors.”

Several search planes had combed the snowy peaks and ragged crevices of the Andes for the wreckage of Flight 980, which disappeared minutes before the airliner was to land at El Alto airport in La Paz on Tuesday.

Also aboard the plane were nine Korean passengers, seven Paraguayan passengers and five Chilean flight attendants, the airline said. It did not say whether the Koreans were from North Korea or South Korea.

The flight left Asuncion, Paraguay, at 5:57 p.m. Tuesday and was due in La Paz at 7:48 p.m. on its way to Miami, said Rene Osorio, director of Eastern’s office at El Alto.

Its last contact with the airport was the pilot’s radio conversation 11 minutes before the scheduled landing, McGraw said.