Evening star., 1948-01-08
:: Body Of Baby Sought
in Georgia Air Wreck
In Which II Died
BY the Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga, Jan. 8.-The
.Atlantic's restless tides today
cseeped under the crumpled
wreckage of a New York to :
Miami charter plane in which II
persons, perhaps 18, died and
nine were injureds
The big converted Army C-47,
loaded mostly with homeward- bound
Puerto Ricans, arrived over the Sa-
vannah River marshlands eight
miles southeast Of here yesterday
morning, its twin engines firing rag
gedly.
Lazily the plane circled, abruptly
went into headlong dive, crashed
and exploded.
Rescued Girl Dies.
The crew aboard a United States
Army engineer boat working in the
river, went to the rescue immed-
iatly, but even so it was nearly three
hours before they could bring out
: the injured over tortuous mile OF
mud, water and grass which inter-
vened.
Shortly afterward the United
States Coast Guard cutter Aurora
arrived abreast of the still smoking
plane and began the grim task OF
slogging through the morass with
the dead.
The engineers boat, the Doboy,
meanwhile was chugging down.
stream with the injured, one OF
whom, 10-year-old Isabelle NAL
danado, died. AS the Doboy TIED
up at Savannah, Roman Catholic
priests administered the last sacra-
ments.
At last reports none of the sur
viving injured was in critical condi-
ton. They were taken to the Marine
Hospital here.
Two Revenue Agents Killed.
Because of a discrepancy In the
planes manifest list rescue workers
planned to retrace their steps
through the muck today in search
of another body.
The planes manifest in New York
showed that Is persons Including
an infant boarded the plane there,
and two men came aboard In Phila-
delrhia. So far only 26 have been
accounted for among the dead and
injured and no trace Of an infant
has been found.
The two men who boarded in
Philadelphia, both of whom were
killed, were identified last night as
Harry Woodcock and Gerson
Brody, both 81, and both employees
of the United States Internal Reve-
nue. Bureau. Mr. Woodcock was q
division chief and Mr.. Brody a
deputy collector. They were en- route
to Miami.
Two others among the dead were
identified by the Red Cross as Gre
gorio Cruz, so, Of Gunercenda,
Rivera, Puerto Rico, and Niconedes
Diaz, sugar plantation workers from
San Juan.
Pilot Among Dead.
The dead also included the pilot
of the Coastal Airlines plane, AL
vino Antonioli
Co-pilot of the plane, Raymond
Eich of Trenton, N. D., was among
the survivors. He had been tossed
clear of the plane and rescuers
found him clad only in a necktie
and shoes.
Mr.. Eich said the pilot had
warned him to prepare for crash
landing and that as the only other
crew member he had gone aft to
warn the passengers to faSten
safety BELTS ~ ,45A.
Mr.. Eich said the plane suddenly
began losing altitude and as he1
rushed for the cockpit, the DC-3
type ship crashed. He told one
newspaperman that the plane had
been having trouble with the
gasoline feed.
Hair Fired by Explosion.
Another survivor, Octavio Pinol
of San Juan, told reporters that
"the motors didn't sound SO good
when we took off from Philadelphia
and Raleigh" Mr.. Pinol Is o.
wounded veteran of World War II.
"I was thrown clear of the plane
and landed about 10 feet from 1t, J"
he said. MY hair was on fire from
the explosion and I put my head
under water. The water was about
2 feet Deep"
The veteran of the fight for Stras-
bourg, Germany, also told of seeing
a woman with both legs missing
and of young girl with both legs
apparently broken.
The swamp in which the plane
crashed lies about 3 miles from the
Atlantic Ocean across desolate
fiat.
Yesterdays plane crash was the
second involving Puerto Ricans.
Last July 13 similar plane fell
down into a Florida bog, killing 81
persons, Is of whom were from the
Caribbean island.