The news website www.eluniversal.com quoted a Lan Chile Airlines statement as saying that a group of passengers aboard flight 568 from Venezuela to Miami on July 4 was prohibited from entering the US and landed in the Bahamas to refuel before immediately returning to Venezuela.
Said the report: “Lan Chile general manager Juan Manuel Perez explained that 11 travellers boarded the airplane in Maiquetia bearing irregular documentation – the reason why US authorities denied the flight authorisation to land.
“Following September 11 attacks on New York, the US has reinforced security measures and demands the list of passengers traveling to the country to be sent by e-mail. In that way, the relevant US authorities detected the irregularities and prohibit the landing of the flight in Miami.
The report said that Mr Perez would not confirm whether the passengers with irregular documentation were Cubans as other passengers had claimed.
The director of the Venezuelan Civil Aviation Institute Francisco Paz Freita said investigations on this case continue and that investigators are awaiting a report from Lan Chile.
Source: The Tribune
