Families of Brazilian plane crash victims gather in Sao Paulo as French experts join probe

The debris at the site where an airplane crashed with 61 people on board, in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, early on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (Andre Penner/AP Photo)

SAO PAULO -

More than 40 families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil gathered Sunday at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as three French government investigators arrived in the country. Forensics experts worked to identify the remains of the 62 people killed.

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Sao Paulo state government said the two engines of the plane were removed from the crash site Sunday evening, more than two days after the accident. The rest of the wreckage had already been removed.

The remains of all 34 male and 28 female victims were recovered on Saturday.

The ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop operated by Brazilian airline Voepass was headed for Guarulhos international airport in Sao Paulo with 58 passengers and four crew members aboard when it went down Friday in Vinhedo, 78 kilometers (49 miles) north of the city. Voepass said that three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese identity.

ATR is a French-Italian company. International aviation protocols recommend that investigators from the country of origin of the airplane maker follow inquiries on foreign soil whenever a crash involving one of those planes takes place. Local authorities said that the three French investigators in Brazil work at BEA, the European country's body for civil aviation security.

The bodies of the pilot, Danilo Santos Romano, and his co-pilot, Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, were the first to be identified. Another 10 have been identified since, local authorities said. One body is already set for burial, and another seven are expected to follow on Sunday, Sao Paulo's state government said.

The airliner said in a statement to The Associated Press that Romano had just finished his first full year as commander. He was hired by the Brazilian company in November 2022 as a co-pilot. His experience with Voepass included 5,202 flying hours, all in planes of the ATR model, the only one the company owns.

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At least eight physicians were aboard, Paraná state Gov. Ratinho Júnior said. Four professors at Unioeste university in western Paraná were also confirmed dead.

Liz Ibba dos Santos, a three-year-old girl who was traveling with her father, was the only child known to be on the passenger list. The remains of Luna, a dog that was traveling with a Venezuelan family, were also found in the wreckage.

Sao Paulo’s morgue began receiving the bodies Friday evening, and it asked victims’ relatives to bring in medical, X-ray and dental records to help identify the bodies. Blood tests were also done to help identification efforts.

The few family members speaking about the tragedy did so on social media.

Tânia Azevedo, who lost her son Tiago in the crash, was put up in one of the hotels in Sao Paulo, but said that she was waiting to go to the morgue.

“I believe Tiago is somewhere trying to help the other people wounded who also need light and love,” she said. “I couldn't go there (to the morgue). I am here waiting. It is dark here, I need some light and love myself.”

Images recorded by witnesses showed the aircraft in a flat spin and plunging vertically before smashing to the ground inside a gated community, leaving an obliterated fuselage consumed by fire. Residents said that there were no injuries on the ground.

Firefighters and rescue workers work in the debris at the site where an airplane with more than 60 people on board crashed in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, Saturday Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

It was the world's deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that stalled and crashed while making its landing approach. That plane also was an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.

Metsul, one of Brazil's most respected meteorological companies, said Friday that there were reports of severe icing in Sao Paulo state around the time of the crash. Local media cited experts pointing to icing as a potential cause for the crash.

A video shared on social media channels Saturday shows a Voepass pilot telling passengers on a flight from Guarulhos to the city of Cascavel that the ATR 72 has flown safely around the world for decades. He also asked passengers to be respectful to the memory of his colleagues and the company, and asked for prayers.

“This tragedy doesn't hit only those who perished in this accident. It hits all of us," the unidentified pilot said. "We are giving all our hearts, all our best to be here and fulfill our mission to take you safely and comfortably to your destination.”

Police restricted access to the main entrance of the Sao Paulo morgue where bodies from the crash were being identified. Some family members of the victims arrived on foot, others came in minivans. None spoke to journalists, and authorities requested that they not be filmed as they came.

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A flight carrying more family members from Paraná state landed Saturday afternoon at Guarulhos airport. A minivan sponsored by the airline was provided to transport them to the morgue.

Sao Paulo's state government said that 26 families have already gone to the morgue for identification efforts, with more expected on Sunday.

An American Eagle ATR 72-200 crashed on Oct. 31, 1994, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause was ice buildup while the plane was circling in a holding pattern. The plane rolled at about 8,000 feet (2,500 meters) and dove into the ground, killing all 68 people on board. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued operating procedures for ATRs and similar planes telling pilots not to use the autopilot in icing conditions.

Brazilian aviation expert Lito Sousa cautioned that meteorological conditions alone might not be enough to explain why the Voepass plane fell in the manner it did on Friday.

“Analyzing an air crash just with images can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Sousa told the AP by phone. “But we can see a plane with loss of support, no horizontal speed. In this flat spin condition, there’s no way to reclaim control of the plane.”

Asked whether the 62 people aboard would have lost consciousness during the steep fall of the plane, Sousa said “it is possible, but not likely.”

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Brazil’s air force said Sunday that both of the plane’s flight recorders had been analyzed at its laboratory in the capital, Brasilia, and their content has been transcribed. The results of its investigations are expected to be published within 30 days, it said.

Marcelo Moura, director of operations for Voepass, told reporters Friday night that while there were forecasts for ice, they were within acceptable levels for the aircraft.

In an earlier statement, the Brazilian air force’s center for the investigation and prevention of air accidents said that the plane’s pilots didn't call for help or say they were operating under adverse weather conditions.

The ATR 72, which is built by a joint venture of Airbus in France and Italy’s Leonardo SpA. is generally used on shorter flights. Crashes involving various models of the ATR 72 have resulted in 470 deaths going back to the 1990s, according to a database of the Aviation Safety Network.

Earlier on Sunday, Pope Francis said during a public mass at the Vatican there should be prayers for the victims of the air crash.

Tatiana Pollastri reported from Vinhedo