PARIS: Forty eight people, including French boxer Marcel Cerdan, were aboard an Air Fra­nce Constellation airliner which crashed in fla­mes into a 3,600-foot high mountain peak in the Azores today [Oct 28]. A radio message to­­night said there were no survivors. … Infor­mation Department Chief of Air France said a telephone message received from Santa Maria … said that the rescue party sent to San Miguel had found the wrecked Constellation. …

Air France stated: “Reports first received at Orly airfield, according to which the missing Constellation plane had been sighted on a mountain in the island of San Miguel, some 60 miles from the Santa Maria airfield, are now confirmed.”

Planes and ships had scoured the seas off the Azores after the Constellation was reported over-due at Santa Maria. The last message from the pilot received at Santa Maria at 0250 GMT, said he was going to land there at 0255 GMT. The Control signalled back that conditions were so good that the plane could fly in without instruments. Since then the fate of the Constellation had remained a mystery.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2024