Tunisair ATR-72 crashes near Sicily

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PALERMO, Sicily (AP) - A Tunisian airliner that reportedly lost engine
power Saturday plunged into the choppy Mediterranean while trying to
make an emergency landing in Sicily, and at least 13 people were
killed, officials said. At least three of the 39 people on board were
missing.

Some of the 23 survivors clung to the wings and fuselage of the
Tuninter airline ATR-72 as they screamed to rescuers. The wreckage was
battered by 10-foot waves and strong currents, delaying rescuers'
arrival.

"Some people were on the wing, screaming, yelling for help," said
Filippo Morgante, an official with the Palermo fire department, which
sent boats out for the rescue.

"Others were on the fuselage, and some were trapped inside the plane.
Some weren't wearing lifejackets. Maybe they didn't have the time to
put them on."

The pilot and co-pilot survived.

The plane went down about 10 miles off Cape Gallo on Sicily's north
coast, near Palermo's Falcone-Borsellino airport, authorities said. As
divers searched for victims, bits of the passengers' luggage bobbed by:
a black flip-flop, a book and a carryon bag resembling a picnic cooler.

The rescue operation went into the night, as fire boat crews and coast
guard ships searched for the missing. The Italian news agency Apcom,
quoting unidentified Palermo mortuary officials, said three bodies were
later recovered, raising the death toll to 16, but that report could
not immediately be confirmed.

In Tunisia, Tuninter CEO Moncef Zouari told a news conference that 13
people died, three were missing and 23 survived.

At Palermo's Giaccone Polyclinic, where the bodies were brought,
coroner Paolo Procacciati told The Associated Press the victims
included nine women, three men and a young girl.

The twin-propeller plane, operated by an affiliate of Tunisair,
departed Bari, Italy, for the Tunisian resort of Djerba, which is
popular with Italian vacationers.

The pilot radioed Rome airport aviation officials at 3:24 p.m. to
report engine trouble and ask permission to make an emergency landing
in Palermo, said Nicoletta Tommessile, a spokeswoman for ENAV, Italy's
air safety agency.

Sixteen minutes later, the pilot told tower officials: "We're ditching
in the sea," Tommessile said.

Waves as high as 10 feet and strong winds rocked the fuselage, Palermo
port authority official Paolo Maioli said.

"The rescuers had to struggle against the wind, so the rescue times
suffered a delay of at least 10 minutes in bringing help," Maioli said.

He said it took rescuers 40 minutes to arrive in their boats.

Fire department diver Salvatore Milazzo said the front end and tail of
the plane had broken off when he arrived. Looking shaken and exhausted,
he said divers pulled four bodies from the water - including a crew
member in uniform - while police and coast guard boats recovered more.

"We freed a body which was trapped inside" the fuselage, Milazzo said,
but it was unclear if he was referring to a victim or survivor.

SKY TG24 TV said the pilot survived and told ENAV officials that the
engines lost power, but Tommessile said she could not immediately
confirm that.

The pilot and co-pilot were among the survivors, said Giuseppe Ganci, a
doctor at Palermo's Civic Hospital. He told the TV network that X-rays
performed on the co-pilot found no major injuries, while the pilot had
a neck injury.

Earlier, ENAV spokesman Adalberto Pellegrino said the aircraft was
apparently intact when it hit the water.

Palermo Prosecutor Piero Grasso, who was at Palermo's port as survivors
and bodies were being taken off rescue ships, said authorities ruled
out terrorism.

Hours later, the tail broke off from the main wreckage, rescuers said.
A large piece of the blue-painted fuselage was tossed by the choppy
seas and kept afloat by a yellow flotation device attached to one end
by divers.

Tunisian officials said all the passengers were Italian, and SKY TG24
said most were from the Puglia region in the heel of the boot-shaped
Italian peninsula.Palermo port official Vincenzo Pace told SKY TG24
that some bodies were found several miles from the wreckage after
apparently being carried away by the current.

"The divers have confirmed that there are no bodies inside" the
wreckage, Pace said.

Italian prosecutors will investigate any possible criminal cause, such
as negligence, which might have forced the plane down. ENAV also was
investigating.

Nine survivors were in serious condition, said Capt. Giuseppe Averna of
the Italian border police's sea division.

Five survivors, including a young girl, were taken to Villa Sofia
hospital, emergency room doctor Giuseppe Pumilia said. Many of the
survivors were reported to be in shock, and others suffered broken
bones, cuts and bruises, doctors said.

The ATR-72, which was built in France, has a two-person crew and seats
up to 74 passengers. Its maiden flight was in 1988.

BL.
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