Drugs and alcohol in body of Aaliyah crash pilot

THE pilot of the light aircraft that crashed in the Bahamas last year, killing 22-year-old American singer and actress Aaliyah, himself and seven others, had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body, aviation officials said.

An autopsy performed on Luis Antonio Morales Blanes’ body revealed cocaine in his urine and traces of alcohol in his stomach, the Bahamas Department of Civil Aviation said in a statement on the results of an inquiry into the wreckage.

Authorities are investigating how the substances might have affected the pilot at the time of the crash last August. Morales, 30, was sentenced to three years’ probation for possessing crack cocaine 12 days before the crash.