UW fans feared dead in air crash

Associated Press

MERIDA, Mexico — A plane carrying 16 American tourists, all from the Seattle area, and three crew members on a visit to Mayan ruins crashed in Yucatan state on Wednesday. All aboard died.

Fernando Vargas, director general of Aero Ferinco, said in a telephone interview that the passengers had gotten off of the Holland America cruise ship Massdam at the Caribbean island of Cozumel and were flying to visit the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.

The 16 tourists were on a seven-day Caribbean cruise with a group of University of Washington Huskies football fans, who had planned to arrive in Florida to attend the Huskies’ scheduled Saturday game against Miami at the Orange Bowl, the Seattle-based cruise line said Wednesday night in a statement.

Holland America said it was not releasing the victims’ names pending notification of relatives.

Vargas said the twin-engine LET 410 with 16 passengers, a Mexican guide and two pilots crashed shortly about 5 p.m. near the village of Tinum shortly after taking off from Chichen Itza on a return trip to Cozumel.

"There were no indications of an emergency," Vargas said.

The plane was flying at about 500 feet when it began turning onto a course requested by the air traffic controller, he added. "It did not stop turning" and suddenly plunged to the ground.

"We don’t know what happened," Vargas said, though Mexican federal aviation officials were investigating.

Vargas said pilot Jose Luis Romero had 7,100 hours flying time and co-pilot Aurelio Perez Escalante more than 1,000.

The administrator of the Chichen Itza airport, Eduardo Alfaro de la Torre, told the government news agency Notimex that the pilot of the plane had not radioed for help before the accident.

The airline, based on Cozumel, flies in the Yucatan Peninsula, to Guatemala and Cuba. It specializes in chartered air tours.