Plane Crashes in Venezuela With 47 Aboard

At Least 23 Survivors Taken to Hospitals after State Airline Conviasa Plane Crashes Near Puerto Ordaz; Paper Reports 2 Dead

AP) Updated 12:33 p.m. ET

A plane carrying 47 people crashed shortly after takeoff Monday in eastern Venezuela.

At least 23 people survived and were taken to hospitals, Bolivar state Gov. Francisco Rangel Gomez told Venezuela-based television network Telesur. Venezuelan newspaper El Universal is reporting at least two people are dead.

The condition of the other passengers was unclear early Monday afternoon.

The plane from the state airline Conviasa crashed about 6 miles from the eastern city of Puerto Ordaz at about 10 a.m., Transportation Minister Francisco Garces told state television.

He said the plane went down on the property of the state-run Sidor steel foundry.

Rescue workers were tending to injured victims, state emergency management director Jose Zamora told the Venezuelan television channel Globovision. He did not say how many had survived.

Forty-three passengers and four crew members were aboard, Garces said.

Garces said the plane was headed to Margarita Island when it crashed shortly after takeoff, for reasons that were unclear.

Globovision quotes a Minister of Communication and Transport official as saying the plane was an ATR 42 aircraft.