=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/08/26/i= nternational1829EDT0736.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, August 26, 2003 (AP) Official: airplane that crashed in Haiti was overloaded with passengers and= baggage MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer (08-26) 15:29 PDT CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) -- A plane that crashed in Haiti, killing all 21 people aboard, had its engines replaced three weeks earlier and was dangerously overloaded, officials said Tuesday. The Tropical Airways Let L-410 took off at 4 p.m. Sunday with too many passengers and too much baggage, a senior manager at the Cap-Haitien airport told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. "While the plane has capacity for 19 passengers, only 17 should be allow= ed on board for safety purposes," he said. Tropical Airways said most passengers on the plane bound for Port-de-Pai= x, about 45 miles west of Cap-Haitien, were Haitians living in the Bahamas who were returning for a religious festival. Such visitors generally come loaded with gifts for family. It was unclear if the people who took the flight had arrived in Haiti fr= om the Bahamas on a Tropical Airways flight or aboard other flights. Shortly after the plane took off, smoke billowed out and a back hatch opened, allowing baggage to tumble out, witnesses said. The aircraft nose dived into a sugarcane field and exploded in northern Haiti. It was not immediately possible to get government, airport and airline officials to respond to the allegations by the Cap-Haitien airport official. The Communications Plus public relations firm, hired by Tropical Airways, said the plane's two engines had been replaced three weeks before the crash. The firm said the plane was not equipped with a data recorder. It was unclear if the engines were new, said Ely Pierre, a spokesman for the firm. The Czech-made Let L-410 is a rugged, short-haul craft capable of landing at poorly maintained or unpaved runways. Tropical Airways continued to operate daily flights Tuesday to major Haitian cities and to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands. Haiti's National Office of Civil Aviation promised to increase oversight, but director Jean-Lemaire Pierre said there was no need to cancel flights. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP