The wreckage of a Pan American Airways passenger plane that crashed in 1952 has been located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean after a seven-year investigation led by the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Discovery Channel, according to a recent press release.
On 11 April 1952, a Pan Am flight took off from San Juan, Puerto Rico, bound for New York. Shortly after take-off, the aircraft lost power on two engines and could not maintain altitude, forcing the pilot to carry out an emergency water landing.
Everyone survived the initial impact, but "with no safety briefing provided, a significant language barrier, and no coordinated evacuation procedure in place, passengers faced chaos, confusion, and heavy seas as the aircraft flooded and sank in less than three minutes," the foundation said.
As a result, only 17 of the 69 people on board survived.
The tragedy prompted the Civil Aeronautics Board, a predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration, to introduce mandatory pre-flight safety briefings and emergency procedure demonstrations, the foundation added.
Finding the wreckage of the Clipper Endeavor became a seven-year mission for Russ Matthews, president and co-founder of the non-profit Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, who played a central role in the project.
"We had to wait a couple of years to get our shot," Matthews said in an interview, explaining the delay in the investigation. He said the water where the aircraft sank was too deep for divers to reach the wreckage. Harsh weather conditions and the coronavirus pandemic also contributed to the delay.
Finally, in June, a search team from Deep Sea Vision found the wreckage of the DC-4 using high-resolution sonar and autonomous underwater drones nearly 2,000 feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Puerto Rico.
Read more:
The United States has bombed Iran for an 11th consecutive night as the Pentagon says the war’s cost reach $37.5 billion. President Donald Trump thr...
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier have discussed regional developments, transport connectivity, energy c...
Pakistan has asked the U.S. for a $10 billion exchange stabilisation facility, according to a source briefed on the matter. If approved, the funding w...
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 21st of July, covering the latest developments you need to know.
President Donald Trump said the United States will target Iran’s heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain site “pretty soon” as he meets with Lebanese president Michel Aoun. Meanwhile, U.S. forces carried out a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran while Tehran continues to target Gulf countries.
Overnight U.S. strikes caused blackouts in southwestern Iran and hit the northwestern city of Tabriz for the first time. Separately, a U.S. soldier died in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 22nd of July, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Azerbaijan has rejected suggestions it played any official role in reported private talks between former German politicians and Russian representatives in Baku, saying the meetings were organised independently.
Afghanistan and Türkiye are considering a tourism agreement to promote historic and religious sites, ease travel and train tourism workers, Afghan authorities said after talks in Kabul on Monday.
The European Union's General Court has dismissed Ryanair's appeals against an Italian state aid scheme approved by the European Commission in 2020 to support airlines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan’s tourism boom is adding pressure on local authorities to expand accommodation taxes as cities and prefectures seek to manage rising visitor numbers and fund services amid record international arrivals.
Georgia and the European Union have held their first working-level talks in Brussels following the EU's decision to suspend visa-free travel for holders of Georgian diplomatic, service and official passports.
Tourism operators in eastern Latvia say repeated incursions by stray military drones linked to the war in Ukraine are driving visitors away from one of the country's most popular summer destinations, threatening hundreds of small businesses that rely on seasonal trade.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment