São Paulo, Brazil – Rescuers have completed the recovery of all 62 bodies from the Voepass plane crash in Vinhedo, southeastern Brazil, on Saturday night. The ATR-72 aircraft was carrying 58 passengers and four crew members and no one survived the accident.
Initially Voepass had reported 61 casualties, but they later corrected the number to 62 when they confirmed that a name was missing from the passenger list. The plane was traveling from Cascavel, in the south of the country, to São Paulo and crashed while already landing, minutes from São Paulo International Airport.
The recovery of the bodies took almost 24 hours. They have already been sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute (IML) of Sao Paulo, where the victims will be identified. Since there was an explosion after the plane hit the ground, the Federal Police must use other forms of identification, such as fingerprints, dental records and DNA.
The families of all the victims have gathered at a hotel in São Paulo, where they are receiving psychological support and also collecting DNA to help identify the bodies. Family members are avoiding speaking to the local press, but all report the pain and grief of losing their loved ones in such a tragic way.
Most of the victims were from Cascavel, where a mass burial will be held in the coming days. But there is still no date for the release of the bodies for burial and burial. At the crash site, rescue teams have already completed work after removing the bodies and recovering the black boxes and the plane’s engines.
The black boxes were sent to Brasília, the country’s capital, where the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) investigation center is located. It is there that investigations will be carried out to clarify the causes of the accident, with the support of the Federal Police. According to the FAB, the plane did not issue any emergency alert before the crash.
Read more: Plane crashes with 61 people in Brazil, no survivors: local authorities
In addition to supporting families, investigations are focusing on reconstructing the last moments of the flight, which includes analyzing the plane’s black boxes. The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), a federal government agency, confirmed that both the aircraft and the crew were OK and fit to fly.
However, the Public Labor Prosecutor’s Office will also investigate Voepass to identify the crew’s working conditions and whether any labor legislation was violated by the airline, affecting the accident or not.
Despite the tragedy, Voepass continues its operations and flights take off and land normally in the country. According to the Public Prosecution, at this point there is no need to suspend the activities of the airline. The families are also receiving legal support and have already had meetings with prosecutors and Voepass to discuss the case.
The last accident in Brazilian commercial aviation occurred 17 years ago. On July 17, 2007, a Latam Airlines plane coming from Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, overshot the runway while landing at Congonhas Airport in São Paulo and crashed into a Latam warehouse. All 187 people on board and 12 on the ground were killed.
