Brazil Plane Crash

A plane crashed in a muddy river in the Amazon. Four people in the rear of the plane managed to open an emergency door and swim to safety as the aircraft sank. However, as it sank, it dragged 24 others to their death. Most victims were members of a single family that had chartered the plane to travel to a birthday party. Seven children died.

It all happened very fast and the plane sank very fast. Brenda Moraes, age 21, told Brazil's GloboNews TV that they only had a chance because they were sitting in the last rows and could open the emergency door. Divers on Sunday recovered two dozen bodies from the twin turboprop plane that plunged into the Manacapura river in a heavy rainstorm the day before. After all the crew and passengers were accounted for the rescue operations were ended. The pilot had contacted air controllers to report driving rain, but did not mention engine trouble.

American Girl Rescued

An American girl was rescued from a Panama plane crash. She was the sole survivor of a plane crash and was reunited with her family after rescue workers trekked for five hours to carry the 12 year old American girl out of a remote mountain area. Then they airlifted her to a hospital. Francesca Lewis was wearing a neck brace and with one arm bandaged, met with her parents at a hospital in the town of David, capital of Chiriqui province. Michael Klein, a prominent California businessman, and his 13 year old daughter, Talia, a friend of Francesca, were killed in Sunday's crash near the jungle flanked slopes of the Baru volcano, 270 miles west of the capital, Panama City. The Panamanian pilot, Edwin Lasso, age 23, was also killed.