Workers Recovering Bodies From Brazil Plane Crash, Inquiry Underway

Vinhedo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Aug, 2024) Emergency crews on Saturday recovered 50 bodies from the site of a plane crash in Brazil's Sao Paulo state that killed all 62 people aboard, as authorities sifted through the blackened wreckage to try to determine what caused the plane's dramatic plunge.

Videos showed the ATR 72-500 plane in a sickening downward spin Friday before it crashed into a residential area in the town of Vinhedo, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo city.

The plane, falling almost vertically, landed on its belly and exploded in flames, striking with such force that it was nearly "flattened," said Sao Paulo fire lieutenant Olivia Perroni Cazo.

The Voepass airline said there were 62 people on board, not 61 as it had reported earlier.

All 62 were Brazilian, the airline said, though at least one was apparently a dual citizen. Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday on X that one of its citizens was among the victims.

There were no casualties on the ground.

The fiery crash transformed the plane's fuselage into a mass of twisted metal, and a steady overnight rain complicated the recovery efforts by some 200 workers.

"So far 50 bodies have been removed from the scene of the accident, and two have already been identified" through fingerprints, the Sao Paulo state government said.

Vinhedo Mayor Dario Pacheco said they were the bodies of the pilot and the co-pilot, with many of the other bodies badly burned.

The dead are being transported to Sao Paulo's main morgue, and investigators were collecting DNA from the victims' relatives to aid identification.

The twin-engine turboprop, built by aviation firm ATR, was flying from Cascavel in southern Parana state to Sao Paulo's Guarulhos international airport.

According to the Flight Radar 24 website, the plane flew for about an hour at 17,000 feet (5,180 meters), until 1:21 pm (1621 GMT) when it began losing altitude at a catastrophic rate.

Radar contact was lost at 1:22 pm, the Brazilian air force reported. It said the plane's crew "at no time declared an emergency or were under adverse weather conditions."

Brazil's Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA) has opened an inquiry into the cause of the crash.

Its experts in Brasilia are already analyzing data from two black boxes recovered from the wreckage, containing cabin conversations and in-flight data, said the center's chief, Marcelo Moreno.