Avianca Crash Survivor Now Faces Drug Charges -- Man Is One Of Two Who Swallowed Packets Of Cocaine

NEW YORK - A survivor of last Thursday's Avianca jetliner crash was charged at a hospital with drug possession after passing about 5 ounces of cocaine through his digestive tract, and what is believed to be the first crash lawsuit has been filed.

Antonio Zuluaga, who was critically injured, was the second passenger from Flight 52 alleged to have been carrying condoms containing cocaine inside his body, police said.

The Boeing 707, en route from Bogota and the Colombian drug capital of Medellin, smacked into a hillside Thursday night 15 miles northeast of Kennedy International Airport. The crash killed 73 people and left 86 survivors.

Zuluaga was being treated at Nassau County Medical Center in East Meadow, for a fractured spine, broken ribs, a dislocated hip and possibly a broken knee.

Each of the 19 condoms he passed contained about 8 grams of the drug, police Sgt. Richard Snizek said yesterday.

Another man, Jose Figueroa, was found to have cocaine-filled condoms in his intestines when doctors operated on him the day after the crash to stop internal bleeding, authorities said. Figueroa's body may contain as many as 70 more cocaine packets of varying size, and police were waiting to determine the amount before charging him, said Donald Kane, deputy chief of detectives.

The U.S. District Court lawsuit, filed yesterday by a New Jersey man who said he was disabled in the crash, seeks $202.5 million from the airline. It says Avianca was negligent because it failed to furnish a safe aircraft and a competent crew.

The plaintiff, Jesus Manuel Pinzon, 31, of Elizabeth, N.J., suffered multiple broken bones, cuts and internal injuries. He was returning from a visit to relatives in Bogota.

Pinzon's 2-year-old son, Brian, who was in the seat next to his father, suffered minor head injuries and was not hospitalized.

A final report of the crash is unlikely for at least nine months. Reports so far have centered on who was responsible for the decision not to land when fuel was running low.

As the plane circled around New Jersey, about 45 minutes before the crash, captain Laureano Caviedes Hoyos requested ``priority'' to land rather than declaring an ``emergency,'' investigators said.

Barry Trotter, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said Avianca does not require its pilots to declare a fuel emergency when levels drop below a certain point.

An American Airlines jet was brought in shortly before the crash when its pilot told controllers it had just 14 minutes of fuel remaining.