Human remains and wreckage are scattered around the site where a Colombia's West Caribbean passenger plane crashed Tuesday in a mountainous Venezuelan area near the Colombian border.

A statement from West Caribbean said there were 152 passengers on board the twin-engine MD-82, including one child and eight crewmembers.

According to media reports, large number of local residents rushed to the crash site. The site is a jungle in a mountainous area difficult of access. Venezuelan military later sealed off the place.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Jesse Chacon said the plane crashed at 03:00 local time (07:00 GMT) after the pilot informed of technical problems on both engines and requested permission for an emergency landing in Maracaibo Airport, capital of Zulia department.

The airline, Venezuelan authorities and France have refrained from speculating on the cause of the engines' trouble.

Source: Xinhua