U.S. missionaries to return home after Peru tragedy

The Bowers are scheduled to return to the U.S.

In this story: U.S. role 'Established procedures' Flight plan RELATED STORIES, SITES

LIMA, Peru -- American missionaries whose light aircraft was shot down by a Peruvian Air Force jet over the Amazon Jungle are due to return home.

They will be taking with them the bodies of a mother and her baby, who were killed in the incident.

Veronica Bowers, 35 and her seven-month old daughter Charity were killed when the plane was riddled with bullets in what was apparently a tragic case of mistaken identity.

Military officials say the plane had been mistaken for a drug-running aircraft.

AUDIO Father of pilot Kevin Donaldson described what happened 392K/35 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     MESSAGE BOARD Share your thoughts on the war on drugs     ALSO State Dept.: U.S. gave Peru missionary plane's location

After coming under a hail of machinegun fire the aircraft ditched into the Amazon River; Bowers' husband Jim and their son Cory escaped unhurt.

The plane's pilot, Kevin Donaldson also survived, but he was hit by a bullet in the leg, which his son said severed major arteries.

Donaldson's father Richmond had told CNN his son and the two other survivors are due to be flown to Texas -- from there the injured pilot would travel to Pennsylvania for what's expected to be extensive surgery.

He said his son was in good spirits, but was losing the feeling in his right foot, and had lost five to six quarts of blood.

U.S. role

On Saturday a State Department official said that a U.S. surveillance plane gave the Peruvian military location data for a plane that turned out to be a missionary aircraft.

The Peruvian Air Force then shot the plane down, killing two of the five Americans on board.

The official said the missionary plane "was mistaken for an airplane transporting contraband drugs."

"An unarmed U.S. government tracking aircraft was in the area and provided location data for the subsequent intercept mission that was conducted by the Peruvian Air Force," the official said.

He said that the Peruvian authorities are responsible for identifying the aircraft and deciding on any action but added that, pending the outcome of an investigation, the U.S. has suspended drug interception flights in the area.

"Pending a thorough investigation and review by Peruvian and U.S officials of how this tragic incident took place, the provision of location data by the U.S. and the conduct of interdiction flights by Peru have been suspended," the official said.

A statement from the Peruvian Air Force on the incident said an unidentified plane, which had not filed a flight plan, was detected entering Peruvian air space from Brazil around 10 a.m. Friday.

'Established procedures'

"Facing such circumstances and, in agreement with established procedures, the intercept system was activated," the statement said. A Cessna A-37B, with the assistance of the reconnaissance plane, "proceeded to intercept the unknown airship."

After the missionaries' Cessna 185 did not respond to a command to identify itself, the air force plane fired, the statement said.

The pilot of the civilian plane finally responded after landing in a river near Pevas, at which point the Peruvian Air Force dispatched a rescue plane, it said.

The statement said the air force has initiated an investigation, "lamenting profoundly the loss of human life."

But Michael Loftus, president of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, which sponsored the missionaries, said their plane never left Peruvian air space.

It had flown to the border town of Benjamin Constant, site of the nearest consulate, to obtain a visa for the infant, he said.

Loftus said Donaldson had been in radio contact with the tower in Iquitos.

"Central aviation authorities had given him a landing slot. How could he be in contact with the civil authorities and their own military not know about it?" he said.

Flight plan

Loftus said he could not confirm that a flight plan had been filed, but he said that was the usual practice.

A spokesman at the U.S. embassy in Lima said the U.S. reconnaissance plane was working as part of an agreement between the United States and Peru to combat drug trafficking.

"U.S. radar and aircraft provide tracking information to the Peruvian Air Force on planes suspected of smuggling illegal drugs in the region," he said.

Asked about the incident while attending the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, President George Bush said, "I'll wait to see all the facts before I reach any conclusions about blame, but right now, we mourn for the loss of two lives."

After the incident, the hydroplane made an emergency landing into the Amazon, flipped on impact and partially submerged.

Babbi Donaldson, the pilot's wife, said the military plane continued to strafe the Cessna with machine-gun fire even after it landed in the river.

Jim and Veronica Bowers had been in Peru for eight years, working on a riverboat, traveling up and down the Amazon and its tributaries, ministering in villages and working in medical clinics and literacy programs.

The ABWE is a 74-year-old organization that has about 1,300 missionaries in 65 countries, said Loftus.

Its members work to "spread the gospel and plant churches and assist people throughout the world," he said from the group's headquarters in Harrisburg, Pa. Their work includes building and running hospitals, schools and orphanages, he said

Two Americans killed when private plane shot down in Peru
April 20, 2001

Peruvian Embassy in Washington, DC
American Embassy in Lima, Peru

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