19 dead in Suriname airplane accident

PARAMARIBO, SURINAME —  A plane crashed Thursday en route to a remote gold mining region in southern Suriname, killing 19 people, officials in the South American country said.

The twin-engine Antonov AN-28, operated by Surinamese carrier Blue Wing Airlines, crashed in the jungle on approach to an airstrip in Benzdorp, near the border with French Guiana, officials said.

All 19 people on board, including the pilot and co-pilot, were killed, said Satnarain Joeglall, air traffic supervisor at the airfield in Paramaribo, from which the plane took off.

Another official, Brian Desouza, flight safety division manager for the country’s aviation authority, said all 19 apparently were Surinamese, but authorities had not confirmed their nationalities.

President Ronald Venetiaan offered condolences to grieving relatives, and said that more should be done to increase the safety of the numerous airstrips in the country’s interior.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Arie Verkuyl, a Blue Wing board member, said the pilot was his daughter, and that she had aborted a landing attempt amid light rain and was coming around to try again.