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Rescuers pull only bodies from Brazil plane crash
2007-07-18
Rescue workers in Brazil pulled charred bodies from smoking wreckage and damaged buildings on Wednesday after about 200 people were killed in the country's worst air disaster. The Airbus A320 was carrying 186 passengers and crew when it skidded on a short, rain-soaked runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport late on Tuesday, hurdling a busy road before slamming into a gas station and cargo terminal. An acrid haze hung over the crowded neighborhood near Brazil's busiest airport as rescuers wearing masks put bodies in refrigerated trucks bound for the morgue. Dental records and jewelry were being used to identify victims, with the country's second major crash in less than a year ramping up criticism about aviation safety. "We found out last night but nobody wanted to believe it," Daniel Silveira, whose brother-in-law was on the plane, said as he struggled to hold back tears. By afternoon, firefighters had found 165 bodies. Three severely injured victims had been rushed to hospital but then died, raising the official toll to 168. State officials said they did not expect any survivors from the flight operated by Brazil's No. 1 carrier, TAM Linhas Aereas. One fire chief said the death toll could reach 200, counting casualties on the ground. The aging airport reopened on Wednesday, using an alternate runway. But the mood was somber, with families of victims weeping in grief and some travelers reluctant to fly. "A plane just crashed, it's hard not to be scared," said Jose Lenza, who opted to drive to Brasilia instead of flying. Rescue teams recovered the cockpit recorder from the wreckage, which was still spewing black smoke. Large yellow diggers helped to shift rubble from ruined buildings. CITY SURROUNDS AIRPORT In September, 154 people were killed when a Brazilian Boeing 737 clipped wings in mid-air with a private jet and crashed in the Amazon jungle. That accident thrust Brazil's aviation system into disarray as air traffic controllers, feeling they were being blamed for the disaster, went on strike to protest poor pay and what they called unreliable radar and radio coverage. Congress has also been investigating accusations that directors at the national airport authority took bribes from contractors. Tuesday's crash highlighted long-standing safety concerns about Sao Paulo's airport, known for slippery runways and a symbol of the country's chaotic air transport system. South America's largest city surrounds the airfield, built in 1919 on what were then the outskirts of town. The TAM plane was trying to land on a surface that was repaved in June after officials tried to ban wide-bodied jets over fears they could skid off the airport's short runway. Two smaller planes slid on the slick surface on Monday. Brazil's airport authority said the runway had not been grooved to drain water during downpours but that it had been planned for July 28 after new concrete settled. Critics accused the government of ignoring safety in a rush to reopen the runway. "It was a pre-announced tragedy, an accident in waiting," said Sandra Assali, president of the Brazilian association of friends and relatives of air crash victims. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, criticized for not doing enough to address the aviation woes, ordered federal police to investigate if the runway was reopened prematurely. In Brasilia, the capital, opposition leaders demanded the resignation of top aviation authorities and the defense minister, who oversees civil air travel. "Reopening a runway that was not ready is tantamount to murder," Onyx Lorenzoni, a congressman from a leading opposition party, told Reuters. "They should go to prison." (Additional reporting by Mauricio Savares, Andrei Khalip, Raymond Colitt and Henrique Barbosa)
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