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Foul Play in Colombian Crashes?
March 7, 2002
Summary
The government of Ecuador is reportedly investigating the crashes in January of two airplanes near the border with Colombia. Although pilot error and bad weather conditions may be the likeliest causes, hijackings or ground fire from Colombian guerrillas or paramilitary group remain possibilities.
Analysis
Ecuador's government is reportedly investigating what caused two aircraft flown by highly experienced pilots to stray off course and crash inside Colombian territory in January, according to Spanish wire service EFE. The inquiry concerns the crashes of a twin-engine Fairchild owned by national oil company PetroEcuador on Jan. 17, and of an Ecuadorian Military Air Transports (TAME) Boeing 727-100 that went down on Jan. 28.
The PetroEcuador flight was en route from Quito to Lago Agrio, located 14 miles from the border with Colombia, and was 31 miles off course when it crashed near the summit of Colombia's El Tigre mountain. The TAME aircraft was only five minutes away from making a stopover landing in Tulcan, just across the border from the Colombian city of Ipiales, when it flew directly into Cumbal volcano in Colombia's southwestern Narino department, exploding on impact. The Boeing was 12 miles off course at the time.
Although pilot error may be the likeliest cause of both crashes, Ecuador's civil aviation authorities have not ruled out the possibility that one or both aircraft may have been hijacked or struck by ground fire from Colombian guerrillas or paramilitaries. They say "many curious coincidences" in both crashes need to be investigated thoroughly.
If inquiries subsequently confirm that either the PetroEcuador or TAME crashes were caused by factors other than pilot error in bad weather conditions, it would indicate that the battleground between Colombian guerrilla and paramilitary groups along Ecuador's border with Colombia is heating up rapidly. It could also be an indication that Colombian rebels or paramilitaries may be developing new tactics in their escalating civil war.
The January crashes are not the first suspicious incidents in the Colombia-Ecuador border vicinity. El Tigre mountain is only a few miles from the site in Colombia where a U.S.-owned DeHavilland RC-7B intelligence-gathering aircraft crashed in August 2000, according to Colombian and Ecuadorian government officials.
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Dan
Foul Play in Colombian Crashes . . . ?