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Written by Sebastian Rocandio
VINEDO, Brazil (Reuters) – Brazilian emergency crews on Saturday began recovering the remains of victims of a plane crash in the town of Vinedo, near Sao Paulo, that killed all 62 people on board.
The Sao Paulo state government said at least 31 bodies had been recovered by 1 p.m. (1600 GMT). Vinhedo Mayor Dario Pacheco said the bodies of the pilot and co-pilot had been identified.
All bodies are taken to the Sao Paulo Police morgue.
Four people with dual nationality were among the victims, three Venezuelans and a Portuguese woman, said regional airline Voipas, which operated the plane.
The plane was carrying 57 passengers and four crew, Vobas said on Friday, but the company confirmed on Saturday that another unaccounted-for passenger was on the flight, bringing the death toll to 62.
Firefighter Maicon Christou at the scene said authorities are using seat assignments, physical characteristics, documents and belongings such as cell phones to identify victims.
“Once we have collected all this evidence, we will remove the victims from the wreckage and put them in the vehicle that will be transported to Sao Paulo,” he added.
State civil defense coordinator Hinguel Pereira said relatives of the victims were taken to Sao Paulo to provide DNA samples to help identify the remains.
The plane’s so-called “black box”, which contains audio recordings and flight data, is being analyzed, Marcelo Moreno, head of Brazil’s air accident investigation center Cenepa, told a news conference in Vinedo.
The ATR-72 plane was heading to Sao Paulo from Cascavel in Parana state and crashed at around 1:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) in Vinhedo, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo. Although it came down in a residential area, no one on the ground was hurt.
The Brazilian Air Force said in a statement that the plane was flying normally until 1:21 p.m., when it stopped responding to calls, and radar contact was lost at 1:22 p.m.
The Air Force added that the pilots did not report an emergency or adverse weather conditions.
ATR, a Franco-Italian company jointly owned by Airbus and Leonardo, is the dominant producer of regional turboprop aircraft that can seat 40 to 70 passengers. ATR told Reuters on Friday that its specialists were “fully engaged” in the investigation into the crash.
