The Laima Airlines plane crash left investigators with a lot of unanswered questions. While the plane was in pristine condition for flying, 71 people ended up losing their lives. With a loss so great, someone has to be held accountable and now authorities have someone in custody.
According to FOX News Latino, Bolivia's Lamia Airlines general director Gustavo Vargas Gamboa has been arrested in connection to the air plane crash in Colombia that left 71 people dead.
Prosecutors who on Tuesday raided the headquarters of Bolivia's Lamia Airlines in the city of Santa Cruz confiscated documents and computers in keeping with their investigation to determine the firm's responsibility of the crash.
The site reports that Vargas is a former member of the Bolivian air force who was the pilot for several of the country's presidents between 2001-2007, including current President Evo Morales. Vargas was arrested at the office and transported to the district attorney's office in the city for booking.
The arrests came on the eve of a meeting in Santa Cruz among Bolivian, Brazilian and Colombian prosecutors investigating the crash, in which almost the entire Chapecoense soccer team from Brazil were killed when their charted Lamia plane crashed near Medellin, Colombia, on Nov. 28. Prosecutors then ordered the arrest after reviewing the firm's documents and computers.
Bolivian Attorney General Ramiro Guerrero said Tuesday that the crash investigation in his country "certainly could get to murder charges" against anyone found to have responsibility for the tragedy.
Authorities also searched the office of Celia Castedo, who had questioned the Lamia aircraft's flight plan prior to the accident mainly because she noticed that the scheduled flight time was the same as the amount of fuel the plane was to carry, apparently leaving no cushion for emergencies.
The Attorney General's Office on Friday criticized Castedo for not reporting her observations regarding the flight plan in a more timely way.
Gamboa's arrest, company secretaries and a technical staffer was also taken into custody for their role in the crash.
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