Colombian Air Crash Victim Has Knack for Survival
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BOGOTA, Colombia — The sole survivor of an air crash that killed 20 people Saturday appears to have a knack for escaping death, having also lived through a bus accident and an avalanche, a spokesman for the Colombian Red Cross said Sunday.
Pedro Gaitan Puentes, who is in stable condition with cuts and bruises, escaped injury a month ago in a bus accident on a mountain road, the spokesman said. And 10 years ago, Gaitan left Armero in central Colombia a day before a volcano erupted and buried the town, killing nearly all of its 23,000 inhabitants, including his daughter.
Gaitan lost his 9-year-old son, Camilo, on Saturday when the plane they were aboard crashed as it was about to land in rain and fog near a national park about 105 miles southwest of Bogota, killing all four crew members and 16 passengers.
“Lucky? I guess it depends on what you consider lucky,” said the Red Cross spokesman.
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