Civil defense teams are working to recover the bodies of 58 passengers, four crew members were killed in the fiery crash in the state of Sao Paulo.
Authorities in Brazil are working to determine what killed all 62 people on board when a plane crashed in Sao Paulo state in one of the worst aviation incidents in the South American country’s history.
Civil defense teams worked through the night on Saturday to recover the remains of passengers and crew members after the Vopass Airlines flight crashed in a fire near the town of Winahedo.
At least 21 bodies had been recovered from the scene as of Saturday morning, with two victims identified on-site, the Sao Paulo state government said. All the bodies are being transferred to the police morgue in Sao Paulo.
The local airline Voepass plane, an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, was en route to Sao Paulo’s international airport with 58 passengers and four crew members when it crashed on Friday.
The airline had lowered its initial death toll to 61 but brought it back to 62 on Saturday after finding a passenger who was not on the original list of names.
“The man is a passenger who was not included in the list of names released last night because his identity could not be confirmed for technical reasons,” Monica Ianaccio reported from Sao Paulo.
Firefighter Macon Christo said at the crash site on Saturday that the position of the bodies, physical characteristics, documents, and similar mobile phones were being used to aid in identification.
“Once all this evidence is collected, we will extricate the victims from the wreckage and put them in the vehicle to be taken to Sao Paulo,” he added.
It is also the world’s deadliest accident since January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines plane crashed during landing in Nepal, killing 72 people. That aircraft was also an ATR 72, and the final report blamed for pilot error.