Plane wreck found after 27 years
From correspondents in Quito
February 18, 2003
THE wreckage of an Ecuadoran passenger plane lost in 1976 with 59 people on board has been found, a group of mountain climbers has announced.
The plane, a four-engine Vickers Viscount belonging to Saeta Airlines, vanished on August 15, 1976 as it flew from the Andean city of Cuenca to Quito.
The climbers said they discovered the wreckage in a remote site near the top of Mount Chimborazo.
The volcano, which has a perpetual snow cap, is 6310 metres (20,702 feet) high and the country's highest peak.
Mount Chimborazo is some 130 kms south of Quito.
The widow of Marcelo Aleman, the plane's captain, told reporters that Defence Minister Nelson Herrera had told her of the discovery.
The climbers brought back indentification documents belonging to one of the crew members as proof of the find.
They also recovered newspapers from the day of the crash, according to local new reports.
The plane was reportedly found in a hard to reach area at a height of 5100 metres.
The wreckage was said to be spread over a 600 metre radius
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