Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901

Infobox Aircraft accident
Name = Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901
Date = July 19, 1994
Type = Airliner bombing
Site = near Colón, Panama
Fatalities = 21
Injuries = 0
Aircraft Type = Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante
Origin = Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport,
Colón, Panama
Destination = Tocumen International Airport,
Panama City, Panama
Operator = Alas Chiricanas
Tail Number = airreg|HP|1202AC|disaster flagicon|PAN
Passengers = 18
Crew = 3
Survivors = 0

Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901, registry HP-1202AC, was an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante aircraft which exploded shortly after departing Colón, Panama for Panama City on July 19, 1994. All 21 on board, including 12 Jews, were killed in the bombing. Both Panamanian and American authorities consider the bombing an unsolved crime and an act of terrorism.

The wreckage of the Bandeirante was strewn about the Santa Rita Mountains near Colón. Panamanian investigators quickly determined that the explosion had been caused by a bomb, probably detonated by a suicide bomber aboard the aircraft. Only one body was not claimed by relatives; this body is believed to be that of a man named Jamal Lya. [http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/seekinfo/lya.htm "Seeking Information" page] for Jamal Lya from the U. S. Federal Bureau of InvestigationDead link|date=June 2008] Officials suspected that the incident was an act of terrorism directed against Jews in part because it took place one day after the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina which killed 85 people and which was also strongly suspected to be an act of terrorism against Jews.

Soon after Flight 00901 crashed, an organization using the name transl|ar|"Ansar Allah", or "Followers of God", issued a statement expressing support for the bombing, and claiming that the attack was a suicide operation by a person with an Arab name. Later, it was determined the organization did not exist; many point to transl|ar|"Hezbollah"Fact|date=September 2007 as the culprit. Panamanian authorities have made no arrests in connection with the bombing; The case remains officially unsolved.

External links

* [http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Panama+Jews+pained+decade+after+bomb&intcategoryid=2 10 years after Panama airline bomb, Jews are pained by lack of suspects]
* [http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Few+clues+in+Panama+10+years+after+bombing&intcategoryid=2&SearchOptimize=Jewish+News Few clues, no certainty 10 years after Panama airline bombing killed 12 Jews]
* [http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_18/news_03.html Acquittals in Argentine terror case cast a shadow across Panama]
* [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/47/473.html Argentine trials may shed light on Panama mystery] , Eric Jackson, Panama News Online, 17 October 2001.
* [http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seekinfo/lya.htm "Seeking Information" page] for Jamal Lya from the U. S. Federal Bureau of InvestigationDead link|date=June 2008
* [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19940719-1 Flight 00901 information] from the Aviation Safety Network

References