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GUATEMALA CRASH TOLL NOW PUT AT 93
Authorities recovered the bodies of all 93 people who died in Guatemala's worst air crash and by tonight had flown most of them back to the capital from the isolated jungle site. Eight Americans were among the dead.
The twin-engine Caravelle jet of the private airline Aerovias crashed Saturday as it approached the Santa Elena airport, about 150 miles north of Guatemala City, while flying tourists to the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal. All aboard were killed. The airline earlier put the death toll at 90, including six Americans, but today it said two other Americans and a Guatemalan were among the victims. There was no immediate determination of what caused the crash. #12 Bodies Taken Back The first 12 bodies were brought back to the capital's international airport late on Saturday. Sobbing relatives jammed the tiny waiting room of the Aerovias terminal, waiting to be summoned to identify the bodies.
They hugged each other, weeping, as the first victims were brought into the hangar. A line of hearses waited nearby.
An elderly man sobbed softly as a forklift brought in a pallet with two bodies, one apparently his wife.
''Twenty-five years, twenty-five years,'' he said over and over.
Airport officials said those victims brought back were the most easily identifiable.
Several small planes that left Guatemala City today and flew to Santa Elena to help return the bodies were unable to fly back to the capital because of rain and low visibility.
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