Two More Bodies Recovered Thursday
Officials said Thursday they have discovered two bodies from the crash of a small plane that had carried U.S. and Canadian skydivers.

The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública ( Security Ministry) did not identify the bodies that were discovered Thursday, a day after U.S. skydiver William Slater, 34, was rescued from the water near a marina 96 kilometres southwest of San José.

Authorities said Slater, who remained in Hospital Mexico Thursday, told them the plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean Tuesday afternoon after encountering turbulence.

He said he and two others had leaped from the plane with parachutes after feeling strong vibration from the top of the aircraft.

Costa Rican officials identified the others aboard the plane as local pilot Jorge Melendez; Milton Burton, a Canadian skydiving instructor who owned a company called Skydive Costa Rica; Emanuel Sanchez Cornejo, a Mexican-born U.S. citizen, and U.S. citizens James Simplicio and Jean Roman.

In a news release, the ministry said it "confirms the finding of the lifeless bodies of two men" near Herradura beach. It said the others aboard the plane "are intensively searched for."

Roger Sequeira, an employee of Skydive Costa Rica, told the Spanish language daily La Nación the group was making its final skydiving flight of the day "because it was dark and began to rain and there was a strong wind."

Authorities said pieces of the plane were seen in widely dispersed areas.

The search for the remaining bodies was called off at nightfall last night and resumed at daybreak today. According to Jorge Rovira, rescue operations chief for the Cruz Roja (Red Corss), said their strategy for the search is use more aeral passes over the area, concentrating more on the area of the crash.

Operators of the luxury resort Marriott Los Sueños have helped in the rescue efforts as well as a score of private boat owners, according to Rovira, who added that today they will be using special equipment to try to locate the bodies and fuselage of the small aircraft.



What Caused the Crash?
The Preliminary investigation shows the plane may have been knocked down from the sky excessive turbulence.

Investigators are discounting engine failure.  If engine failuer  had been the case, the experienced pilot would have headed for the coast, experts say.

One of the investigators said that once they we eliminated the possibility of engine failure, it can be assumed that the aircraft lost stability due to excessive turbulence.

Authorities are presuming that the pilot got too close to a wind current in his climb to gain altitude for the last jump of the day for the skydivers.

Unnamed sources close to the investigation told the press that, in the last trip of the day, the aircraft's pilot Meléndez was surprised by the strong wind current. At the time, the climate over the Pacific was bad and it was raining.

The pilot was making his climb to the 8.000 foot altitude so that the skydivers could make their jump, but, authorities believe he never made it past 3.000 feet.