European and US tourists dead in Venezuela plane crash

An airplane with 24 people aboard, including European and US tourists, crashed late Thursday in a shantytown in the Venezuelan city of Ciudad Bolivar, killing everyone aboard, local officials announced here. Two children and an elderly woman in the shantytown were badly injured in the crash, officials said. The airplane, a DC-3 of the Venezuelan Rutaca airline, was taking foreign tourists from the Canaima National Park in south-eastern Venezuela to Margarita Island, a tourist enclave on Venezuela's northern coast. According to a list made public by Rutaca, the victims included five tourists from Holland, six from the United States, four Italians, two Hungarians, an Austrian, and six Venezuelans, including four crew members, France Press reports. Earlier reports included French, British and Spanish tourists among the group. The pilot was reportedly trying to make an emergency landing when the plane crashed and burst into flames around 6:30 pm (2230 GMT).