CARACAS, Venezuela -- The pilot of a Cuban airliner carrying 93 people aborted his takeoff Monday when an engine caught fire, sending the craft swerving off the runway and crashing. Officials said 16 people were injured but none seriously.
The Cubana de Aviacion Ilyushin 18 was leaving Venezuela's main airport near Caracas when an undetermined mechanical problem caused the fire, said Jose Cabello, the airport's director.
"The plane never took off. It could not reach the required speed for takeoff, forcing the pilot to try to keep the plane on land. But the runway ended," said Cabello.
The local state governor, Antonio Rodriguez, said the plane was involved in a commercial flight. He the flight was not linked to Venezuela's cooperation agreement with Cuba, which brings Cuban doctors and sports trainers to city slums and poor rural regions of this South American nation.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-venezuela-plane-crash,0,2135628.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
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