MISSING RADAR MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO CRASH

A 1992 Guerilla sabotage of a radar site near Cali may have helped create the hazards that caused an American Airlines passenger jet to crash last week. The Santa Ana radar station, located in the mountains south of Cali, was destroyed by leftist rebels three years ago and was never replaced, leaving the area where the Boeing 757 went down uncovered. An air traffic controller at Cali Alfonso Bonilla Aragon airport, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified, confirmed to Colombian journalists that the disaster might have been averted had the radar been working, since the air traffic controller could have alerted the pilot that he was off-course. A statement released by Colombia's Civil Aviation Authority said that 167 people, not 164, were believed to have boarded the flight; only four passengers survived.