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Brazil's deadliest air crash fuels anger, prompts airport probe
2007-07-18
Rescuers on Wednesday pulled scores of bodies from the wreckage of a jetliner following Brazil's deadliest air disaster that left 200 people feared dead and stirred outrage over conditions at a Sao Paulo airport. All 186 passengers and crew aboard TAM's Flight 3054 were believed to have died in Tuesday's fiery crash that also killed an undetermined number of people on the ground. "There is no sign of survivors," TAM President Marco Antonio Bologna said at a news conference. The Airbus 320 careened off the slick 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. The tragedy rekindled angry controversy over the airport, which is notorious for a runway some officials consider too short and which pilots say becomes slick when wet. "The runway was as slippery as soap," an unnamed pilot told the O Globo daily, adding that authorities should not have allowed the plane to land at Cagonhas airport in those conditions. 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. The main runway had been resurfaced last month, but more work was scheduled for September to build grooves into the surface to allow for better water drainage. "Control tower operators had warned the runway should be closed because it didn't have 'grooving,' but no one in the government wanted to hear about it," said Sergio Olivera, who heads the Federation of Air Controllers. The tragedy came just 10 months after the previous deadliest air disaster in Brazil, when a Boeing 737 of Brazil's Gol airline crashed into the Amazon jungle killing all 154 people on board. "What exploded in Congonhas was not just the TAM airbus and almost 200 victims but the credibility of the Brazilian aviation system," the Order of Lawyers of Brazil said in a statement. The Justice Ministry ordered an investigation to establish whether the runway met technical and legal security standards. Rescuers meanwhile continued to retrieve bodies from the charred wreckage. About 24 hours after the crash, they had recovered 170 bodies, while three more people died after being taken to a hospital. 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." One of the plane's black boxes was recovered but it was not immediately clear if its condition would permit retrieval of the recorded data. 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. Located just a few kilometers from Sao Paulo's city center, Congonhas is Latin America's busiest airport, with an average of 630 daily landings and take-offs. It is mainly used for flights from other parts of Brazil and South America. 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.
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