Two pilots, a nurse and a doctor died in a plane crash that involved a medical plane at the airport in the city of Rio Grande in Fuegian province, the Transportation Safety Board (JST) officially reported.
The plane, a Lear 35A, fell to the ground shortly after taking off from the Rio Grande airport, around 2:30 p.m. The impact led to a large explosion that could be heard in different sectors of the city of Tierra del Fuego.
The victims were identified by judicial sources as Claudio Canelo (commander), Héctor Vittore (co-pilot), Diego Ciolfi (doctor) and Denis Torres García (nurse).
Judicial spokesmen revealed to Télam that the bodies of the four people “were burned” and this afternoon they remained “inside the wreckage of the ship awaiting the first tests.”
The accident led to the initiation of a criminal case involving the Federal Court of First Instance of Río Grande, in charge of Judge Mariel Borruto, and Federal Prosecutor Marcelo Rapoport.
The medical transfer
Minutes before the accident, the aircraft, which was on a medical flight, had grounded a five-month-old baby and his mother who had been transferred from the city of Buenos Aires, official sources confirmed to Télam.
Both were part of the health flight carried out by the aircraft of the Flying América SA company that left this morning at 8:45 from the San Fernando airport and made a stopover in Comodoro Rivadavia (Chubut) before embarking on a trip to Tierra del Fuego.
The aircraft was on a medical flight and was preparing to return to the city of Buenos Aires
After landing “normally” in Rio Grande, both the baby and his mother were taken by ambulance to the CEMEP sanatorium, where the child remains hospitalized and in “good health,” medical sources from that establishment told Télam.
“The baby is five months old. He came with a tracheotomy. He is with his mother and is doing very well,” confirmed the spokespersons consulted.
The accident
The plane crash occurred around 2:30 p.m., while the aircraft in which “two pilots, a doctor and a nurse” were traveling was taking off from the Gobernador Ramón Trejo Noel International Airport in Río Grande, heading back towards Buenos Aires.
The ship fell to the ground within the grounds of the Naval Air Base and about a thousand meters from a populated area, causing a “big explosion” that could be heard in different sectors of the Fuegian city of Río Grande, in addition to a trail of fire and smoke. that could be filmed by some locals.
Minutes later, four units from the city’s Fire Station went to the air station, which was immediately closed.
The ship had a valid authorization to carry out this type of flight from October 19, 2021 and until October 19, 2023, according to the official list of companies authorized for medical air transport (STAS).
For its part, the Transportation Safety Board (JST) officially reported that the accident involved the aircraft “Learjet 35, registration LV-BPA”, and occurred at 2:36 p.m. this afternoon.
The National Directorate for the Investigation of Aeronautical Events of the JST “has appointed an investigator in charge who will coordinate the tasks of the Field Investigation Work Team (ETIC),” the Board said in a statement.
He also mentioned that “all the necessary mechanisms were put in place to guarantee access to the documentation and information required for the investigation” and that “the next official statement will be prepared 12 hours after the investigators arrive at the scene of the event, based on the work carried out in the field by the ETIC”.
Four people died after the plane exploded.
The Transportation Safety Board is a decentralized body, in the orbit of the National Ministry of Transportation, created in April 2020 by Law 27,514 and Resolution 98/2020.
“This is the first multimodal investigative body in Ibero-America that investigates accidents and incidents that occur in all modes of transport. Its objective is not to seek civil and/or criminal liability, but rather to contribute to transport safety with studies and recommendations. created, it absorbed the Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Board (JIAAC)”, detailed the agency itself.
From its website, the company Flying America -owner of the damaged medical plane- presents itself as “a privately-owned airline specializing in executive, cargo and medical flights, committed to providing a service of maximum safety, quality and efficiency through of a team of highly trained professionals to provide a service tailored to each client”.
It states that it operates “from the country’s main airports.” “Flying America operates domestic flights as well as international flights, always maintaining the highest standards of safety and quality,” he adds.
Finally, when talking about the safety of their service, they explained that they have “a staff of highly trained professionals, pilots, mechanics and doctors with extensive experience in the type of aircraft they work on. Thanks to our high level of security and professionalism, we have been appointed to transport the FIFA World Cup of Football on its journey through Argentina”.
The victims
The pilot and co-pilot who died when the medical plane they were manning crashed in the Fuegian town of Río Grande “were experienced” and “frequently flew this same aircraft,” while the other two victims, the doctor and the nurse, were part of the campus that the company made available to patients, reported aeronautical sources.
The four fatal victims of the accident of the Lear Jet 35 aircraft of the Flying America company, were Claudio Canelo, 52, commander of the aircraft; Héctor Vittore, 51, who was co-pilot; the doctor Diego Ciolfi, 56 years old and the nurse Denise Torres García, 30.
Canelo was an experienced pilot who belonged to a family linked to civil aeronautical activity and Vittore, a native of the Buenos Aires town of La Reja, was an operational dispatcher for the Dinar airline company, between 1994 and 1996; Army aviation pilot between 1995 and 2011 and since 2009 he served for Flying América SA
Diego Ciolfi was a pediatrician from the town of Caleta Olivia, province of Santa Cruz, and worked at the Zonal Hospital of that town.
Meanwhile, the nurse Denise Torres García was a native of the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Núñez, and had completed her nursing studies at the University of Buenos Aires and also worked at the Italian Hospital of the City of Buenos Aires.
Two years ago, the same company was involved in another accident with a plane with the same characteristics, in Esquel, which left three fatalities.
On that occasion, May 5, 2020, the MD Fly company hired a Lear Jet 35 aircraft from Flying America for a medical flight, but in that case the personnel belonged to the contractors.
The plane crashed on landing at the Esquel airport, in conditions of minimum visibility due to the fog of 150 meters, when it was carrying out a medical flight, transferring a 3-year-old girl with heart problems from Esquel to Buenos Aires.
He had also taken off from the San Fernando airport, contracted by the Television Union, and when trying to land in Esquel, the accident occurred that ended with the life of the doctor Federico Bassi, the nurse Patricio Walmsley and the co-pilot of the flight, Ángel Martín Gamboa, who He died days after the accident while he was admitted to the Esquel Zonal Hospital, with 60 percent of his body burned.
The only survivor of that tragedy was the pilot, Mariano La Torre, who recovered from his injuries after a long period of hospitalization.
