LIMA, Peru -- U.S. and Peruvian investigators
Saturday were trying to unravel the perplexing circumstances in which an
American missionary and her infant daughter died when a Peruvian air force
anti-drug plane shot down their Cessna--an incident that also involved a
U.S. surveillance aircraft.
As part of an anti-drug program in which U.S. aircraft
help interdict smuggling flights, an unarmed U.S. surveillance plane was
providing support Friday morning when the Peruvian A-37B jet shot down a
private seaplane carrying five people, U.S. Embassy officials here
revealed Saturday.
Baptist missionary Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old
daughter, Charity, died after being hit by gunfire. Their pilot was
wounded in the legs and was in stable condition Saturday after being
transferred from a jungle clinic to a hospital in the northern city of
Iquitos.
"A U.S. government tracking aircraft was in the area in
support of the Peruvian intercept mission," an embassy spokesman said. "As
part of an agreement between the U.S. and Peru, U.S. radar provides
tracking information on planes suspected of smuggling illegal drugs in the
region to the Peruvian air force. U.S. government tracking aircraft . . .
do not participate in any way in the shooting down of suspect planes."
The tragic and ironic elements of the case--an American
mother and her baby blown out of the sky during a joint U.S.-Peruvian
anti-drug operation--had U.S. investigators and consular officials
scrambling Saturday. And the U.S. Embassy said further drug interdiction
flights have been suspended, "pending a thorough investigation and review
by Peruvian and U.S. officials of how this tragic incident took place."
But the involvement of the U.S. surveillance plane, which
was reportedly close enough for the Cessna's pilot to see, underscored a
fundamental question: What happened between the moment the anti-drug
aircraft spotted the missionaries' plane and the shoot-down itself?
The Cessna 185 seaplane was spotted about 10 a.m., and the
shoot-down occurred about 11:20 a.m., according to the Peruvian government
and informed sources. Peruvian air force officials insist that the
missionary pilot, Kevin Donaldson, ignored radio warnings and other
internationally established procedures with which the Peruvian pilot tried
to contact him.
U.S. officials gave no signs Saturday that they doubted
the Peruvian version. Yet it is hard to understand why Donaldson, a
veteran missionary who grew up in Peru, would not comply with a Peruvian
air force pilot.
Donaldson was flying over a jungle area rife with airborne
border smugglers. His seaplane fit the profile of smuggling aircraft,
which use clandestine landing strips and rivers to fly coca paste into
neighboring Colombia and Brazil. The aggressive shoot-down policy of
Peru's air force, which has downed more than two dozen suspected drug
flights since 1994, is well known.
The personnel on the U.S. surveillance plane could be an
important source for answers because they probably saw and heard at least
part of the interaction between the Peruvian pilot and the missionary
pilot.
It is likely that the U.S. surveillance plane first
identified the Cessna approaching from Brazilian airspace as a suspicious
aircraft and alerted the Peruvian anti-drug plane, according to sources
familiar with previous shoot-downs. Although U.S. officials would not
comment on this case, they said that U.S. planes in the joint interdiction
program use surveillance technology to pinpoint suspected smugglers for
the Peruvian air force.
"U.S. government aircraft provide location data about
aircraft flying in the region apparently without a flight plan," a U.S.
Embassy spokesman said. "The U.S. aircraft hands off this data to the
Peruvian air force. Peruvian aircraft conduct the identification and
interception missions."
Acknowledging the gravity of the matter, President Bush
took time out from the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City to say he
planned to discuss the shoot-down with Peruvian Prime Minister Javier
Perez de Cuellar.
"The United States is certainly upset by the fact that two
citizens lost their lives," Bush said. "I will wait to see all the facts
before I reach any conclusions about blame."
Facts were scarce Saturday because Peruvian government
officials and the victims had little to say. Survivors James and Cory
Bowers, the slain woman's husband and 7-year-old son, were in Iquitos
along with the wounded pilot, who was expected to be flown to Lima, the
capital, on Saturday night. The bodies of the mother and daughter were
also expected to be flown to Lima and probably on to the United States.
Donaldson's wife, Bobbi, told Peruvian journalists Friday
night that her husband had told her he saw a U.S. plane in the vicinity
during the interception. She said the pilot said he had tried to
communicate with his pursuer by radio and that he did not understand why
the Peruvian anti-drug plane opened fire. But there were no further
details to corroborate or refute that account Saturday.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials confirmed that, on the morning
of the incident, the missionaries' plane had been en route to Iquitos from
Leticia, a Colombian town on the border with Brazil. The Bowers family,
who lived in the Iquitos area, made the trip to Colombia to obtain a
permanent Peruvian visa for the infant girl, a procedure requiring her to
leave and reenter the country.
The Amazon area where Peru, Brazil and Colombia converge
is notorious for drug trafficking and guerrilla activity. But the Bowerses
were apparently unfazed by the dangers: They had lived in Peru since 1994,
traveling by houseboat as missionaries for the Assn. of Baptists for World
Evangelism.
In a news release Saturday, the Pennsylvania-based
religious group asserted that its seaplane followed "all regulations, such
as a flight plan, remaining in Peruvian airspace and maintaining contact
with the flight towers. The plane had recently been refurbished and was in
top condition and was well marked."
Donaldson radioed the air traffic controllers in Iquitos
just before 11 a.m., according to the news release. It was not clear how
that call fit into the sequence of events, as described by the Peruvian
air force, preceding the shooting.
After Veronica Bowers, known as Roni, and her baby were
killed by bullets that tore through the fuselage, Donaldson was able to
land the plane on a river and get the survivors out, according to the news
release.
"They were rescued by a Peruvian in a dugout canoe and
were taken to the clinic in the town of Pebas," the press release said.
"The Peruvian military, along with some U.S. personnel, evacuated Jim and
Cory to Iquitos, along with the bodies of Roni and Charity."
