Peruvian Military Jet Crashes

A Peruvian air force plane carrying at least 50 passengers, most believed to be civilians, crashed into a shantytown in the northern city of Piura Sunday, killing 28 people, authorities said.

The Russian-made Antonov cargo plane was carrying people stranded by El Nino-driven flooding from the city of Tumbes near the Ecuadorean border to Piura, 530 miles northwest of Lima. It fell to earth about 2 miles from Piura airport at 9:30 a.m. EST.

Firemen fought to pull bodies from the plane, which broke into two pieces when it crashed, said Dr. Luis Bengolea of Piura Regional Hospital.

Authorities said they had no reports of foreigners on board.

The plane was preparing to land when one engine malfunctioned, authorities said.

Witnesses said the pilot apparently tried to avoid crashing into the populated shantytown below and slammed into a drainage ditch instead, witnesses said.

Two houses were damaged, but no one was killed on the ground, local radio station RadioProgramas reported.

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