Brazil finds 100 bodies of passengers killed in Boeing crash

Brazilian authorities announced Tuesday they had found 100 bodies of the passengers killed in the Sept. 29 crash of a Boeing 737-800 plane, the country's deadliest ever air crash.

The 100 bodies were found around 1 km from the place, where they found bulk of the aircraft wreckage, Brigadier Luiz Carlos da Silva Bueno, commander of the Brazilian Air Force, told local media.

The plane, owned by GOL Airlines, had 149 passengers and six crew members on board when it crashed, following a collision with an executive jet, close to Peixoto de Azevedo, in the north of Mato Grosso state.

Authorities believe that all the 155 people aboard died, and have already found a large number of body parts amidst the wreckage.

The brigadier said that they can only use helicopters to carry the bodies found on Tuesday because the wreckage site is amidst thick jungles.

Denise Abreu, an official from Brazil's National Civil Aviation Authority, said that the bodies would be taken to the country's capital of Brasilia for identification.

He added that the plane's black boxes had been recovered and sent to the United States, where the Boeing company would examine their contents.

The small executive jet made an emergency landing in the Cachimbo air base in the south of Para state. No one aboard was hurt and its black boxes have been examined by Embraer, the makers of the plane.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has declared three days of official mourning for the 155 dead.

GOL told media that the plane had been delivered by the U.S. aircraft giant Boeing on Sept. 12, and had flown a mere 200 hours before the fatal crash.

Source: Xinhua