Wrecked airplane extracted from mangrove

A new road doubling as a runway would have been helpful, but last month the pilot of a Maya Island airplane had to settle for an emergency landing deep in the mangrove off the Western Highway. We would never have believed it could be done, but recently the wreckage was extracted from the mud. The aircraft, seen here in an area at the back of the P.G.I.A. compound, was airlifted out of the swamp by the Civil Aviation Department, with the assistance of a large helicopter from the Mexican Air Force. The aircraft, a Britain Norman Islander, had six passengers on board when it developed engine problems. No one was hurt in the April thirteenth accident.