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Peruvian plane crash kills at least 52

At least 52 people survived and 37 were killed when a jetliner crashed on Tuesday during a storm only seconds from landing in Peru's Amazon Basin, officials said as rescue efforts were halted overnight at the rugged crash site.

"There are still a lot of bodies to recover," district attorney Cesar Arroyo told reporters.

He said between 37 and 40 bodies had been found.

"We've halted rescue efforts because it's dark, muddy and difficult at the crash site," he added. "We'll finish the rescue tomorrow."

"Among the survivors are 50 passengers and two crew members," TANS Peru airline company spokesman Jorge Belevan said, while allowing for the possibility that others may still be alive.

"These people have been contacted and all of them are alive," he said, adding that he did not rule out discovering more survivors among the 92 passengers and eight crew members aboard TANS Flight 204 from Lima.

Belevan said that among the 16 foreigners on the flight, five Americans who belonged to the same family and two Italians had survived. He had no information on the others.

Flight 204 listed 11 Americans, two Italians, an Australian, a Spaniard and a Colombian. All the other passengers and crew were Peruvian.

The Boeing 737-200 jet crashed during a storm near the Amazonian rainforest city of Pucallpa, 840km northeast of Lima.

The aircraft was less than 5km from the airport when it crashed near a road at 3:06pm, a control-tower official said.

He said a violent storm with fierce winds had broken out as the plane prepared for landing.

A witness said the plane crashed in a swampy jungle and broke in two.

A Radio Programs of Peru (RPP) reporter at the crash site said he saw several dead bodies, including children and babies.

Hospital official Bertha Garcia said the local hospital had received five bodies and 23 injured.

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said all necessary assistance was being rushed to survivors and rescue workers, adding that an investigation of the crash has already begun.

"I am following minute by minute the unfolding of this tragic accident," he said.

TANS spokesman Belevan told reporters, "Preliminary information shows that the accident was caused by a cross-wind at the moment of landing. Although the pilots are as skilled as they can be, unfortunately, the plane was lost."

Survivor Tomas Ruiz told reporters the plane was tossed around in the storm.

"With 10 minutes left for us to land in Pucallpa we noticed the plane was moving too much because of the weather," he said.

Nursing a burned hand, survivor William Zea told RPP: "The plane had problems and we dropped."

His wife also survived, he said.

Yuri Salas said that after feeling "a strong blow," he closed his eyes and crawled out of the aircraft "thanking God for giving me this second chance."

According to the Aviation Safety Network, the crash was the sixth for TANS since 1992. In the most recent on Jan. 9, 2003, 46 people were killed when a TANS Fokker 28-1000 came down in northern Peru.

The crash, the fifth of an airliner worldwide this month, came a week after a chartered Colombian jetliner crashed in Venezuela, killing all 160 on board.

A Cypriot Boeing 737 crashed on Aug. 14 near Athens, killing all 121 people on board; a Tunisian-chartered ATR-42 dived into the sea off Sicily on Aug. 6, killing 16 people; and an Air France Airbus A340 crashed on landing in Toronto on Aug. 2, but all 309 passengers and crew survived.
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