PNC DIRECTOR DIES IN AIR TRAGEDY IN PASAQUINA

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Members of the Rescue Unit of Comandos de Salvamento of El Salvador, Alegría section, arrived at the site where, on Sunday night, a helicopter belonging to the Salvadoran Air Force had crashed. Nine people were traveling aboard, including high-ranking PNC officials.

So far, rescue and emergency-response teams are at Cantón San Eduardo, in Pasaquina, La Unión, where the tragedy occurred. The former COSAVI manager, Manuel Alberto Coto Barrientos, was being transported aboard the aircraft; minutes earlier, he had been handed over by Honduran authorities to the PNC.

Among the helicopter’s occupants was the Director General of the Policía Nacional Civil, Commissioner Mauricio Arriaza Chicas; the Deputy Director of Investigations, Rómulo Pompilio Romero Torres; Commissioner Douglas Omar García Funes (Carabinero); and journalist David Cruz.

The aircraft’s pilot, Alex Quijano of the Air Force, is mentioned among the deceased.

So far, Comandos de Salvamento of El Salvador and other institutions have been unable to enter the perimeter where the tragedy occurred, and the arrival of Legal Medicine authorities is expected to carry out the legally required identification.