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Sunday, May 12, 1996
Last update: 2:20 a.m. EDT

Disaster in the swamp
109 killed -- no survivors -- in DC-9 crash


photo of crash site

They used airboats and helicopters. They dodged snakes and alligators. But the rescuers who desperately searched the Everglades muck for survivors of South Florida's worst plane crash soon came upon the grim reality:

None of the 109 people on board a ValuJet DC-9 survived Saturday when their plane slammed into the earth west of Miami International Airport. Today, the grimmest of tasks continues -- assessing the crash toll by combing the Everglades debris.

Full Story and info-graphic


Friends and family spend
nightmarish hours at MIA

They came to Miami International Airport with a question they were afraid to have answered.
Friends and family of the dead DC-9 passengers -- like the woman at right, whose son was on the plane -- gather at Miami International Airport Saturday night with a question they were afraid to have answered.

Full Story, photos


The Passenger Log of Flight 592


Despair, resignation
Stewart P. Thomas of Coral Gables watched television in vain Saturday, praying that his daughter, son-in-law and 14-year-old granddaughter might have survived the crash of ValuJet Flight 592. "There doesn't seem to be any hope,'' Thomas said.

Where did the jet go?
Late Saturday, rescue crews still were trying to determine whether the ValuJet aircraft disintegrated on impact or partially lodged itself in the soft, marshy terrain of the Everglades.

Valujet formed 3 years ago with 2 aging DC-9s
ValuJet, a 3-year-old airline that offers low fares and no frills, has been under government scrutiny because of its rapid growth and a rash of safety problems

DC-9s: aging planes that ValuJet kept using
Through the 1960s and 1970s, the DC-9 wasa workhorse of U.S. aviation. But as the airline industry upgraded to bigger, newer planes in the late 1980s, many of the old DC-9s were being retired. The DC-9s returned to the skies primarily because ValuJet began buying the used planes at cheap prices.

Major crashes in the United States since 1985

South Florida's bloodiest new record
Before Saturday, South Florida's worst aviation disaster had been the 1972 crash of an Eastern Airlines Lockheed L1011 from New York, which killed 101 people (75 survived) when it crashed in the Everglades.



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The Miami Herald's news, information and Internet access service

This is an "extra" providing coverage of the crash of Flight 592 -- and giving you a sneak preview of the rest of our information service. Some things won't work 100% correctly, but we hope you find it interesting.



Today's Weather




To reach Valujet, call these numbers




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