Bolivia: Crashed jet's company left trail of unpaid debts
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The airline involved in last week's crash in the Andes left a trail of unpaid bills that forced Bolivia's air force to seize two planes and briefly jail one of the company's owners, Bolivian Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira said Monday.
The revelation added to a string of human errors and unsettling details about the Bolivian-based LaMia charter company's checkered past that experts say should have served as warnings to aviation authorities.
A LaMia jet carrying 77 people, including a Brazilian soccer team heading to a South American championship final, slammed into a Colombian mountainside just minutes after the pilot reported running out of fuel.
Minutes before the crash, Quiroga requested permission to land, telling air traffic controllers that he was having fuel problems without making a formal distress call, according to air traffic tower recordings.