EL UNIVERSAL

Last Sunday four Venezuelan military officers and one Bolivian officer died when a Super Puma helicopter donated to Bolivia by the Venezuelan government -which used to transport President Evo Morales and high ranking officials-, crashed in central Bolivia. Last year, another chopper donated by Venezuela crashed in a suburb of the city of Cochabamba.

The accident occurred mid-afternoon Sunday, a couple of hours after Bolivian President, Evo Morales, used the same aircraft in a trip on the Western plateau, Defense Minister Walker San Miguel said in a phone interview with official radio network Patria Nueva.

"President Morales used the same helicopter on Sunday when he was traveling from the Huanuni tin mine to the city of Oruro. We are deeply concerned because, according to the first report of a witness, the helicopter blew up upon reaching the ground," the Defense Minister said, as Reuters reported from Bolivia.

The aircraft, with a capacity for more than 20 people, took off around 3:00 p.m. from Bolivia's central city of Cochabamba and headed for the northern Amazon city of Cobija, San Miguel explained.

At 3:13 p.m. the Bolivian authorities made the last contact with the crew. They reported that the helicopter was overflying the Colomí village, at an altitude of some 14,500 to 15,500 feet.

The Airport Administration and Auxiliary Services to Air Navigation (AASANA) in La Paz contacted the Bolivian Air Force (FAB) at 7:10 p.m. on Sunday to report that the helicopter had not reached its destination.

The accident was publicly reported on Monday at 1:30 a.m.  Romaldo Arispe, who lives in the village of Colomí, called the authorities to report that he had heard the noise of a helicopter and later an explosion.

There were four Venezuelan military officers reported killed in the accident: Major (Air Force) Rodolfo Rivas, 37; lieutenant (Air Force) Deyvis Bustillos, 29; warrant officer 2nd class (Air Force) Carlos Jatar, 40 and aeronautical technician César Bastidas, 39. The Bolivian officer was Major Raúl Paz, AFP reported.

Rivas headed in 2006 the Rescue Coordinating Center (RCC) for Search and Rescue (SAR) at the Maiquetía Airport, in coastal Vargas state, north Venezuela.

The Bolivian Minister of Defense informed in a press conference held in Palacio Quemado, that a FAB commission that was sent to the village of Colomí would investigate the causes of the crash, Venezuelan news agency ABN reported.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas