All 24 on Venezuelan plane die in crash

A plane carrying US, European and Venezuelan tourists has crashed in southern Venezuela, killing all 24 people on board.

Rutaca Flight 224, with a crew of four and 20 passengers, crashed near a hotel after taking off from the city of Ciudad Bolivar, said Victor Arauja, a pilot for the Rutaca airline.

The cause of the crash of the DC-3 aircraft is not immediately known. There were no survivors, Mr Arauja told the Associated Press.

Citing a list it said was provided by Rutaca, Globovision Television said the passengers included six US citizens, five Dutch nationals, four Italians, two Hungarians, two Venezuelans and one Austrian. All four Venezuelan crew members died.

Globovision released a list of passengers' names, but airline and airport officials could not be reached independently for confirmation.

Two children on the ground suffered burns, said Angel Rangel, director of Venezuela's national civil defence agency.

Luis Alberto Guzman, director of the newspaper El Expreso Bolivar, said the 22-year-old mother of the children, aged six months and two years, also was injured.

Globovision quoted Hernan Guevara, a director at the Ciudad Bolivar airport, as saying the flight had landed in Ciudad Bolivar for refuelling before the crash.

Minutes after taking off, the plane tried to turn back for an emergency landing after apparently experiencing mechanical failures, Mr Rangel said.

The crash occurred during a flight from Canaima, near the tourist destination of Angel Falls, to the northeastern city of Porlamar.