B.D.F. investigates crash

An investigating team was sent today to the crash site of a B.D.F. Defender aircraft. The twin engine plane was on reconnaissance patrol over the Orange Walk District when it experienced engine problems around two p.m. yesterday. The pilot, Second Lieutenant Jose Lopez was forced to set the plane down in a swamp some five to six miles west of Indian Church Village. The aircraft was extensively damaged, but Lopez, his co-pilot Second Lieutenant Edgar Joseph and passengers Roman Figueroa and Ruben Pott, both Corporals, received only minor injuries. All four were flown back to base by British helicopter and treated and released from the B.D.F. hospital at Airport Camp yesterday. According to Colonel Hugh Cain, the investigating team spent the entire day at the crash site, but it will be some time before their findings about the cause of the crash are made public or damage estimates are released.