16 Die in Fiery Crash of Airliner in France
An Air France plane crashed today on its approach to Bordeaux airport and all 16 people aboard were killed, officials said.
Local gendarmes said the twin-engine, turboprop plane crashed and burned about 100 yards from a day-care center where children were playing, but no one on the ground was hurt.
The Brazilian-made Embraer EMB-120, carrying 13 passengers and three crew members, was flying from Brussels.
The toll would probably have been higher but fog prevented a scheduled stop in Amsterdam to take on more passengers, the airline said.
The control tower lost contact with the flight when it was about 2 1/2 miles short of the runway, said Francois Eldin, a spokesman for Air France in Paris.
The aircraft crashed in a woods in the suburb of Eysines, three miles northwest of Bordeaux.
Authorities said they had no immediate indication of the cause of the crash, but the French news agency Agence France-Presse quoted an unidentified witness as saying he saw the plane on fire as it was going down.
State-owned Air France said it leased the aircraft from the company Air Littoral, based in Montpellier, France, which also supplied the crew.
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