Bolivia's public prosecutor general has arrested a civil aviation authority official and ordered a raid of the agency's offices, as an investigation into the fatal 28 November LAMIA Bolivia crash continues.
Gustavo Vargas Villegas, director of civil aviation authority DGAC's aircraft registry and licenses division, was arrested on charges of breach of public duty and influence peddling.
He is the son of Gustavo Vargas Gamboa, the chief executive of LAMIA Bolivia, who had also been arrested following a police search of the charter carrier's offices in Santa Cruz.
Bolivia’s public prosecutor general Ramiro Guerrero says the raid of the DGAC offices in La Paz was carried out to "safeguard documentation".
The public prosecutor general's office has also taken into possession LAMIA Bolivia's remaining British Aerospace Avro RJ85s, parked in Cochababma, for a review of their maintenance records and registry specifications.
The circumstances in which LAMIA Bolivia obtained its air operator certificate last year are under investigation, given the family relationship between the DGAC's Villegas and LAMIA Bolivia.
The crash of the Avro RJ85 killed 71 people, while six survived. The aircraft had appeared to run out of fuel while south of its destination, Medellin in Colombia. Questions have been raised over LAMIA Bolivia's operation of the aircraft on a flight with a distance that is just under the jet's operational range.
A source at Santa Cruz airport, where the ill-fated flight originated from, says that the flight plan had included a re-fuelling stop at Cobija in Bolivia's north-east. It is not known why the flight crew did not make the stop.
In the meantime, a Bolivian air traffic controller who was involved with the flight is seeking asylum in Brazil, citing concerns over her safety. Celia Castedo, who worked at the Santa Cruz airport, says she had rejected the aircraft's original flight plan.
Brazil's public prosecutor has confirmed that Castedo is in Brazil and will be questioned. Bolivia's government spokesman has requested for Brazil to send Castedo back.
LAMIA Bolivia was launched with a fleet of Avro RJ85s leased from LAMIA, a Venezuelan airline created in 2010 that was owned by former Venezuelan politician Ricardo Albacete.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Venezuela's LAMIA did not launch operations due to the deteriorating political and economic situation in that country.
The aircraft were then leased to LAMIA Bolivia. Albacete, who now resides in Spain, told Spanish media that he does not hold a stake in LAMIA Bolivia.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
