La Vertiente - Santa Cruz

On December 12, 1997 at 05:05 PM, La Vertiente - Santa Cruz experienced a crash involving Swearingen SA226 Metro II, operated by Servicios y Transportes Aéreos Petroleros - STAP, with the event recorded near La Vertiente Tarija.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

19 people were known to be on board, 10 fatalities were recorded, 9 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 52.6%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 17, passenger fatalities: 9, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. After takeoff from runway 01/19 at La Vertiente Airport, both engines lost power. The aircraft lost height, struck trees and crashed in a field some 300 metres past the runway end. A crew member and nine passengers were killed while nine other occupants were injured. The aircraft was completing a charter flight to Santa Cruz-Viru Viru Airport on behalf of Servicios Aéreos Vargas de España (SAVE), carrying employees of the Tesoro Bolivia Petroleum Company based in San Antonio, Texas.

Aircraft reference details include registration CP-1635, MSN TC-359, year of manufacture 1980.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -21.3591°, -63.2376°.