81s, two ATR42s and several smaller aircraft. In March, a West Caribbean Airways Let L-410 aircraft departing from Providencia, Colombia, failed to climb and hit hills close to the runway. Two crew and six passengers died in that accident. French President Jacques Chirac had learned "with very deep emotion of the terrible air disaster which occurred in Venezuela and in which a very great number of victims were French," his office said in a statement. Martinique is an overseas department of France. Chirac's office said the president had ordered Overseas Territories Minister Francois Baroin to travel to Martinique.
