PILOT CLEARED OF DRINKING.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Tests show that the pilot of an American Airlines American Airlines Major U.S. airline. American was created through a merger of several smaller U.S. airlines and incorporated in 1934. It continued to buy the routes of other airlines, becoming an international carrier in the 1970s; its routes include South America, the plane that crashed and killed 160 people was not drinking in the hours before the accident, Colombian officials confirmed Friday. Alcohol found in Capt. Nicholas Tafuri's blood was caused by the natural decomposition of body tissues after death, a high-ranking source at the prosecutor general's office said. The source spoke on condition of anonymity. Tafuri was piloting the Boeing 757 when it slammed into a mountain while approaching the southwest city of Cali. Four people and a dog survived. Initial tests that discovered alcohol in Tafuri's remains raised speculation he had been drinking before the crash. His friends have said he was a nondrinker who served them soft drinks whenever they visited. The new round of tests was conducted by U.S. officials in the presence of a Colombian representative at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Armed Forces Institute of Pathology A section of the US military which provides consultations, reference atlases and educational programs for pathologists at Walter Reed Hospital in suburban Washington. In a report last week, CBS News said preliminary lab work revealed Tafuri was not intoxicated in·tox·i·cate v. in·tox·i·cat·ed, in·tox·i·cat·ing, in·tox·i·cates v.tr. 1. To stupefy or excite by the action of a chemical substance such as alcohol. 2. . CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. did not reveal its sources. Prosecutors also are awaiting a complete report by government coroners who did autopsies on the plane's passengers and crew. |
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