Brazil plane crash kills 200

As many as 200 people have been killed when an airliner crashed and burst into flames at Brazil's busiest airport in Sao Paulo.The plane, operated by Brazil's biggest airline TAM Linhas Aereas, was carrying 170 passengers and six crew members.Rescue crews said no one on board the Airbus A320 was likely to have survived. The leader of a rescue crew said there could be 200 people dead, including casualties on the ground.The plane, flying from Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, lost control on landing at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, which is known for slippery runways and has become a symbol of the country's chaotic air transport system.The airliner skidded off the rain-soaked landing strip and flew over a bustling road just below, slamming into a petrol station and cargo terminal where people were working.Eyewitness Luis Santos said: "The plane came spinning and passed over our heads at the level of the street lights. We could hear the engine noise getting louder and the plane growing in front of us."When it hit the ground it exploded sending pieces all around."Dozens of ambulances raced to the crash site, where the plane's tail hung out from the cargo terminal in flames as firefighters tried to put out the blaze, which spread to a neighbouring building.Government officials said rescue crews had recovered 20 bodies from the site and that at least 12 people were being treated for injuries at nearby hospitals.In September, 154 people were killed when a Brazilian Boeing 737 clipped wings with a private jet and crashed in the Amazon jungle in what was the worst air accident in the country's history.That crash thrust Brazil's aviation system into disarray as air traffic controllers, who felt they were being blamed for the accident, went on strike to protest over poor pay and outdated equipment.The TAM accident is likely to add pressure on President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to take swift action to improve air safety.Critics say the president has not done enough to solve the country's nagging aviation woes.Congonhas airport recently repaved one of its runways after officials tried to ban wide-bodied jets from the airport on fears they could skid off its short landing strips.Some aviation experts questioned if the runway had been sufficiently grooved to drain water in heavy rains."The runway was reopened because of popular pressure," said Gianfranco Beting, an aviation consultant. "This was a tragedy waiting to happen."On Monday, a small plane also spun off the runway in a heavy downpour but no one was hurt.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | July 18, 2007

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