Los Roques – Caracas

On December 20, 1997 at 06:05 PM, Los Roques – Caracas experienced a crash involving Beechcraft 80 Queen Air, operated by Viproca, with the event recorded near Caracas-Maiquetía-Simón Bolívar Vargas.

The flight was categorized as executive/corporate/business and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

10 people were known to be on board, 9 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 90.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 9, passenger fatalities: 8, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. At 1759LT, while descending to Caracas-Maiquetía-Simón Bolívar Airport by night, the pilot informed ATC about an engine failure. Six minutes later, the aircraft crashed in the sea about 22 km north of the airport. A passenger was rescued at 2205LT. The following night, two dead bodies were found while seven other occupants were never found. The aircraft sank and was lost. Crew: Ricardo Batija. † Passengers: Francesco Porco, Fernando Guasamucare, † Ileana González, † Víctor Ruiz, † Yelitza Arenas, † Juan Cabezas, † Ledda Martínez, † Edwin Núñez, † Paola de Guasamucare. †

Aircraft reference details include registration YV-539C.