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There was no evidence of contamination in the fuel supplied to the aircraft, investigators in Panama who had examined its source of fuel, said.
President Chirac expressed his “strong emotion” when he heard about the crash and offered his condolences. The French Transport Ministry said that the aircraft had been inspected recently and no problems found. However, an airline spokesman said that the aircraft’s tail cone had fallen off during a flight last month.
West Caribbean, based in Medellín, Colombia, has been dogged with safety problems this year. In March one of its twin-propeller aircraft crashed after take off from the Caribbean island of Old Providence, killing the pilot, co-pilot and six of the twelve passengers.
Colombian authorities temporarily grounded the airline’s fleet last month because of non-compliance with an airworthiness directive.
The disaster is regarded as a domestic incident in France because it considers Martinique almost as French as a département of its mainland territory.
2005: DISASTERS AND NEAR-MISSES
February 3: 105 die when Afghan private airline Kam Air Boeing 737 crashes into mountain near Kabul
July 16: Equatair aircraft crashes after take-off from Equatorial Guinea’s island capital, Malabo, killing 60
August 2: 297 passengers and 12 crew escape death when an Air France A340 burst into flames on landing in Toronto
August 6: Tunisian aircraft carrying 39 people from Italy crash off Sicily, killing 13
August 14: Helios Airlines Boeing 737 crashes north of Athens, killing 121
August 16: West Caribbean Airways aircraft crashes in Venezuela, killing 160
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