BUGA, Colombia -- An American Airlines jetliner carrying 164 people from Miami crashed into a mountain in the Andes and burst into a fireball. Four people survived, the Red Cross said Thursday.


Red Cross worker Luis Caiceolo said two children, a man and a woman had been rescued. He did not say what condition they were in. Colombian authorities and American Airlines earlier had said everyone on board was killed.


The cause of the crash, which happened Wednesday evening in an active rebel area in southwestern Colombia, was not known. There was no indication that rebels were involved.


American Airlines said the Boeing 757 was carrying 156 passengers, including four infants, and eight crew members.


It was not clear how many Americans were on board, but most of the passengers were reportedly Colombians traveling to see their families for the holidays. American Airlines said it would not release a list of passengers until relative were notified.


A farmer who walked for three hours to the site Wednesday night described a picture of devastation.


"I saw only pieces where the plane crashed and clothing hanging from the trees. There were no bodies left at all,'' Pedro Rosano told RCN Radio. "The largest piece of plane remaining was only two meters long.'' Flight 965 lost radio contact about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday while flying over Buga, a town 65 kilometers north of Cali. Police said they received telephone calls from area people reporting an explosion.


"We saw when the plane crashed against a mountain and then a huge fireball erupted,'' witness Carlos Buitrago told Radio Caracol. He said skies were clear.


Alvaro Cala, director of Colombian civil aviation, told RCN radio that the plane was 21 kilometers west of its flight plan. He said the plane was four minutes from touching down when it crashed.


There were no local reports of bad weather, and American Airlines Chief Executive Officer Bob Crandall told employees at the company's Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters, that conditions were good.


"Visibility was excellent. The crew was very experienced and fully familiar with the terrain and approach to Cali," he said. "We are both horrified by the event and mystified as to its cause."


Even if there were some survivors, the crash could be the deadliest of the year worldwide and the worst involving a U.S. airliner since Pan Am Flight 103 went down over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people. A terrorist bomb was blamed for that crash.


In Seattle, Boeing spokesman Bill Curry said this was the first crash involving the twin-engine 757, which has an "unblemished record," since its introduction in 1982.