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