transportation

SAN-100 probe will not be rushed

Attorney General says the Chilean government has not put any pressure on her about the case.

Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez said yesterday that she will not be pressured into finishing the SAN-100 crash investigation before all the data has been collected.

Gómez was reacting to published reports in Chilean newspapers yesterday that quoted relatives of crash victims saying that the investigation was proceeding too slowly.

The attorney general said that the investigation is being handled according to procedures, and that she has not received any pressure from the Chilean government to issue findings.

Relatives were quoted in the Chilean press as stating that, in a meeting with Gómez on June 29, they demanded more immediate action from Panamanian authorities.

Gómez, however, said that if such demands had been made, “the meeting would have been over at that instant.”

The crash of SAN-100, which happened on May 29, killed 11 people, including members of a delegation from Chile.

The victims included José Alejandro Bernales, who was head of Chile’s police agency, as well as other top law enforcement officials from that country. They were in Panama for an anti-terrorism conference, and were returning to Panama City from Colón when the accident happened.

Currently, investigators are awaiting a report by Pratt and Whitney, which is examining the helicopter's two engines, which the firm manufactured.

Preliminary reports indicate that the crash was caused by a mechanical failure, but authorities are awaiting the Pratt and Whitney report before releasing any additional information.

To date, the investigation has included the examination of service records for the helicopter, which was put into service in the early 1970s, and interviews with the Servicio Aéreo Nacional mechanics who worked on it.