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Investigators probe Brazil jet disaster, 200 feared dead
2007-07-18
Rescuers pulled scores of bodies from the charred wreckage of a jetliner Wednesday, as authorities ordered a probe of the Sao Paulo airport where more than 200 people are feared dead in Brazil's deadliest air disaster. All 186 passengers and crew aboard TAM's Flight 3054 were believed to have died in the fiery crash that also killed at least 16 people on the ground. "There is no sign of survivors," TAM President Marco Antonio Bologna said at a news conference. The Airbus 320 on Tuesday careened off the slick and notoriously short runway upon landing at Sao Paulo's Cagonhas airport in driving rain, skidded across a crowded avenue and slammed into a warehouse where it burst into flames. By early afternoon on Wednesday, rescuers had retrieved 162 bodies, and another three people died after being taken to a hospital. At least 16 of the confirmed fatalities had been on the ground at the time of the crash. The crash revived controversy over the safety of the airport, located just a few kilometers from the center of Brazil's financial capital. "The runway was as slippery as soap," an unnamed pilot told the O Globo daily, adding the plane should not have been cleared to land at Cagonhas airport in those conditions. The Justice Ministry said on Wednesday it ordered an investigation to establish whether the runway met technical and legal security standards. Brazil's airport administrator Infraero said that some resurfacing work had been done on the main runway, which was closed from May 14 to June 29, and that more construction aimed at improving water drainoff was scheduled in September. There have been a number of incidents of planes skidding off the tarmac at the airport, the latest just one day before Tuesday's crash. In February, a local judge banned the use of the airport by Fokker 100, Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737/700 jetliners, but the ruling was overturned by an appeals court. The International Air Transport Association on Wednesday called for "an open, vigorous and thorough investigation," and offered to help in probing the crash. France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said it was sending two of its investigators and that its German counterpart, the BFU, was sending another two. Five Airbus experts also were on their way. Rescue workers recovered one of the plane's black boxes, but it was not immediately clear if its condition would permit retrieval of the recorded data, local media reported. Congonhas airport opened an auxiliary runway on Tuesday, allowing a limited number of flights to land and take off, but the main runway remained closed since the crash. Latin America's busiest airport, with an average of 630 daily landings and take-offs, Congonhas is mainly used for flights from other parts of Brazil and South America. The Guarulhos International Airport handles most longer-range flights. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared three days of national mourning, while Pope Benedict XVI sent his condolences, saying he prayed "for strength and comfort for the injured and for those affected by the tragedy." TAM's shares, meanwhile, dropped 8.09 percent on the Sao Paulo stock exchange. The previous worst accident in Brazil's aviation history occurred last September, when a Brazilian Gol Boeing 737 flying from Manaos to Brasilia crashed into the Amazon jungle killing all 154 people on board after it was clipped in mid-air by a small private jet. The occupants of the smaller jet were unhurt.
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