A Colombian airliner with 152 people on board crashed in western Venezuela on early Tuesday, Venezuelan television reports said.

File photo shows McDonnell Douglas MD-82 airliner

    CARACAS, Aug. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- A Colombian airliner with 152 people on board crashed in western Venezuela on early Tuesday, Venezuelan television reports said.

    Interior Minister Jesse Chacon told local television that authorities were searching for survivors from the aircraft that was headed from Panama to Martinique in the Caribbean.

    The airliner suffered engine trouble before the crash, the minister said.

    "According to our estimates, the plane crashed in Sierra de Perija between 3 a.m. (0700 GMT) and 3:45 a.m. (0745 GMT)," he said. Enditem