international

Report sent to Chile

Officials with the Departamento de Asesoría Legal de la Cancillería de la República confirmed yesterday that a preliminary report on the crash of SAN-100 has been submitted to the Chilean embassy in Panama.

The May 29 crash killed 11 people, including top police officials from Chile who were in Panama for a conference.

The report was prepared by the Ministerio Público and was dated June 20. It was forwarded to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Panama three days after that.

Chilean officials had expressed concern earlier this week that they had not received any information about the status of the investigation, which is being conducted by several agencies.

Greta Marchosky, director of Asuntos Internacionales del Ministerio Público, said that the final report on the crash has not yet been completed, and that the report only contains preliminary findings.

She added that the ministry is willing to provide any kind of assistance it can to the Chilean government in regard to the crash.

Ministro de Gobierno y Justicia Daniel Delgado Diamante said that Panama has not received any pressure from the Chilean government concerning the investigation. He added that he understands the concern of Chilean officials, but noted that the investigation is at a standstill right now because local authorities are awaiting a report from Pratt & Whitney about the condition of the helicopter's engines.

Pratt & Whitney, which manufactured the engines, is going over them to see if the crash was caused by mechanical failure.