Six European tourists who had booked a panoramic tour of Samaná beach area died shortly after noon on Saturday, 23 January when their airplane crashed along Portillo beach. Air Force lieutenant 28-year old Angel Danilo Morel Almonte (who reportedly had more than 1,000 flight hours), also died from trauma in the crash. The passengers were Charles Rodolphe, Marie Anne, Arturs Francois Bernhard and Madeleine Hanisch from France and Germans Marco Leiniger and Sophie Elizabeth Boettcher from Germany. The Cessna was property of Aeronaves Dominicanas. The Dominican Civil Aviation Board sent a mission to determine the causes of the accident. The cadavers were sent to the National Institute of Forensic Pathology. They had on board binoculars, cameras with telephoto lenses and several film cartridges. Hoy newspaper interviewed Air Force Lieutenant José Vicente Suero for an opinion. He speculated that the crash was caused by the excessive confidence of the pilot who descended too low in order to enable the tourists to take better photographs of the lovely scenery. Apparently the airplane stalled, lost a wing when it crashed into a coconut tree and later advanced 50 meters before crashing on Portillo beach. He said the pilot violated air navigation rules descending below the 1,000 feet level. Hoy newspaper said that Portillo controller Johnny Almanzar discarded bad weather or a mechanical problem. (25 January 2000)
