Top Caledonians Die In Air Crash

A dramatic air crash near Magenta airport, Noumea, in December killed three high-ranking French Govern ment officials and the wives of two of them. . .

The twin-engined Cessna 310, with five people aboard, took off for Lifou Island on December 9 at 7.17 a.m. Two minutes later, after apparent difficulties in one engine, the plane crashed into a twisted heap, its nose embedded in nearby marsh- The occupants, killed instantly, were the Secretary-General of the French Administration in New Caledonia, Pierre Lenquette and Mrs.

Lenquette (in the territory since last April); the pilot, who was Jacques Charbonnier, Director of Civil Aviati°n in New Caledonia; and Mr. and Mrs. Michel Ropartz, on a government mission from Paris.

Next morning Governor Louis Verger delivered the funeral oration after a service in St. Joseph’s

Cathedral. The five bodies were placed in lead coffins to await return to France. Mrs. Charbonnier attended the funeral. She was left with two children; Mr. and Mrs. Lenquette were survived by two children, with the Ropartz couple leaving three, Mr. Ropartz’s mission to the terri tory had not previously been officially disclosed locally. The High Corn missioner’s office revealed that he was from the Paris bureau of Mr.

Jacques Foccart, chief of President Pompidou’s overseas investigations agency. The purpose of Mr. Ropartz’s mission to New Caledonia was not disclosed.

Accident experts arrived from Paris in December to investigate the crash.

Mr. Charbonnier was a most ex perienced pilot, with 2,235 hours, and held both commercial and private licences.

His death, and that of the Sec retary-General, who was number two man in the New Caledonian admini stration, stunned New Caledonia.