Evening star., 1947-02-02
16Die in Crash
OF fPariis-Lisbon
Plane on Peak
DC-3 Falls in Flames
Neor Resort II Miles
From Portugal Capital
BY the A.soeiotsd Press

LISBON, Portugal, Feb. L.
Sixteen persons were killed and
one man survived today when
a French passenger plane en-
route from Paris to Lisbon
crashed into a peak and fell in
flames near the ancient royal
mountain resort of Cintra, on
Portugals seacoast IL miles
northwest of Lisbon.
Portuguese authorities said the
plane carried IL passengers and a
crew of five. f
(Air France, operator of the
twin-engine Dakota transport,
issued statement in Paris to-
night, however, which said only
II passengers and crew of five
were aboard. The statement did
not specify how many persons
had been killed, but unofficial
Paris reports said IS persons lost
their nves)
The first investigators to reach
the scene found the plane COM
pletely destroyed. They discovered
13 bodies-badly burned and with all
marks of identification destroyed
Immediately and began combing the
wreckage for others.
Survivor Remembers Nothing.
The survivor, Eugene Leonard, a
French businessman, remembered
nnfhi1n nf tho nnl oatY1I Nf
describe the disaster.
Mr.. Leonard, suffering from a
fractured leg, other injuries and
shock, related:
"I was sitting next to my wife
when everything went dark. I must
have become unconscious. When I
came to, was lying about 80 yards
from the blazing plane.
Moving as I could around the
wreckage, found nobody else alive.
They were all inside the plane, in
cluding my wife"
Mr.. Leonard, about SO years old,
was going to Lisbon for two week
visit with his wifes grandmother.
Some sources, in Lisbon said they
believed members of the famous
French ballet, scheduled to perform
here, were among the victims.
1t was the third major air dis
aster in Europe within week. A
passenger air liner crashed at Croy-
don airport, England, January Is,
killing IL of its 23 occupants. The
following day a Dutch passenger
plane crashed at Copenhagen kill
ing % persons, including soprano
Grace Moore and Prince Gustaf
Adolf of Sweden.
The Dakota, European designa-
tion for the American DC-3, left
Paris this morning, made a brief
stopover at Bordeaux and took off
at l pm. e am, Eastern Standard
Time) for Lisbon.
Peaks 1900 to 1900 Feet.
The crash occurred near the town
of Cintra, which has population
of 5000 and once was famous as a
summer resort for Moorish and
Portuguese royalty. The peaks in
the mountain -fringed vicinity of the
seacoast range from 1900 to 1900
feet.
Portuguese authorities speculated
that lack of fuel might have caused
the crash because French planes
flying to Portugal must detour
around Spain due to the severance
of diplomatic relations between
France and Spain.
10 Names in Passenger List.
A list of passengers cabled by Air
France from France to Lisbon con-
tanned but 10 names. They were:
Mr.. and Mrs. Leonard, Mrs. L'Huis-
sier, Mr.. and Mrs. Coqueret, Mrs.
Fournery, Mr.. Alot, Miss Cruibsard,
Mrs. Bach Ormand, and Mrs.
Alleaume.
Oficials at the Lisbon airport,
however, said they believed this list
was not complete as they had re-
ceived reports that two more pas
sengers were aboard and that a
18th passenger might have boarded
the plane at Bordeaux.
They said the pilot was a young
flier named Porta who was making
his first fight as commander of an
airlpner. He made his first trip to