BRAZIL: Rescuers pull bodies from crashed Airbus 320 Tam Linhas airliner.

Rescue teams begin removing bodies from a crashed airliner at Brazil's busiest airport. Rescue teams have begun recovering bodies from the Brazil airliner that crashed and burst into flames, killing as many as 200 people. Emergency teams say it's unlikely any of the 176 people on board the Airbus 320 could have survived. Temperatures inside the plane after the crash could have hit 1000 degrees celcius. The plane, flying from Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, lost control on landing at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, and ploughed into a gas station and cargo terminal where people were working. A doctor working at the rescue site, Douglas Ferrari, said there could be at least 25 victims from inside the building. Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra said it was very unlikely that survivors from inside the aircraft would be found. "At the height of the fire, the temperature inside the aircraft, from what a specialist told me, may go up to a thousand degrees (celsius) so that you have an idea of the violence of this accident," he said after he visited the site. At Port Alegre airport relatives were in despair. One woman lost her only two sons in the crash. The plane, operated by Brazil's No. 1 airline TAM Linhas Aereas was carrying 170 passengers and six crew. A man who wanted to find out if his daughter-in-law was on the flight was told there was no passenger list available at the airport. "They don't have the passenger's list. I've flown thirty years of my life, how come they don't have a passenger list? And now they don't have a passenger list," he said after quarrelling with TAM employees. The airliner skidded off the rain-soaked landing strip and flew over a bustling avenue just below, before slamming the gas station and terminal building. Some aviation experts questioned if the runway had been sufficiently grooved to drain water in heavy rains. ENDS

ITN Source | July 18, 2007

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