Minister of Tourism Frank Jorge Elias said that the Dominican delegation to the ITB fair should be the largest possible to confront bad media image given the Dominican Republic, as a result of the recent air accident. He said that, in the immediate future, the country could expect a decline in the affluence of visitors from Germany, as well as the cancellation of some charter flights, due to the misinformation that has been propagated. He said that the current investigations will reveal that the Dominican authorities are not to blame for the tragedy. He said his office is open to all foreign correspondents and he is providing all available information so that the truth may prevail.
U.S. government refutes pilfering version
The United States Embassy in the Dominican Republic has refuted an allegation attributed to Navy Captain Mike Doubleday, a spokesman for the Pentagon on board the Coast Guard vessel Jefferson Island, one of the U.S. ships that assisted in rescue efforts after the Alas Nacionales jet crashed into the Atlantic shortly after takeoff from the Puerto Plata International Airport. He is reported as saying that the bodies of the victims were robbed by local fishermen who first reached the scene of the accident.
“The U.S. Coast Guard did not witness the theft of items on the bodies of the victims of the Boeing 757 that fell into the sea some 13 miles north of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic,” says the communiqué. None of the U.S. Coast Guards involved in the rescue efforts after the crash witnessed any type of theft. Neither did they observe the presence of any boat in the area that was not involved in the rescue efforts.”
Previously, the Governor of Puerto Plata, Cristian Ariza, the Commander of the first vessel from the Dominican Navy to reach the scene, Captain Antony Jiminián, and the director of Civil Defense, Eugenio Cabral, all said separately that the belongings of the deceased that had been recovered were documented and then placed in the care of the district attorney for Puerto Plata.
The Dominican authorities base their rebuttal of the allegation on the fact that the aircraft crashed at midnight and that the local fishermen do not leave the shore until dawn. By that time, the area was being patrolled by U.S. Coast Guard vessels and the Dominican Navy. Furthermore, they indicate that the baggage on the air liner remained within the fuselage which is now on the sea bed at a depth of several thousand feet.
The false allegation about the thieving was broadcast around the world, much to the detriment of the true heroism shown by the Dominican personnel who assisted in the rescue efforts.