Families of Brazilian plane crash victims gather in Sao Paulo

Families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil are gathering on Sunday at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as forensics experts work to identify the remains of the 62 people killed in the accident.

Local authorities said the bodies of the pilot, Danilo Santos Romano, and his co-pilot, Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, were the first to be identified by forensics experts.

Sao Paulo state government said in a statement on Saturday evening that the remains of all the victims had been recovered. There were 34 male and 28 female bodies in the wreckage, it said.

The ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop operated by Brazilian airline Voepass was headed for Guarulhos international airport in Sao Paulo with 58 passengers and four crew members when it went down on Friday in Vinhedo, 78 kilometres (49 miles) north of the metropolis.

Voepass said three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese.

At least eight physicians were aboard, Parana state governor Ratinho Júnior said. Four professors at Unioeste university in western Parana were also confirmed dead.

Three-year-old Liz Ibba dos Santos, who was travelling with her father, was the only child known to be on passenger list. The remains of Luna, a dog that was traveling with a Venezuelan family, was found in the wreckage.

Sao Paulo’s morgue began receiving the bodies on Friday evening, and it asked victims’ relatives to bring in medical, X-ray and dental records to help identify the bodies. Blood tests were also done to help identification efforts.

Tania Azevedo, who lost her son Tiago in the crash, was put up in one of the hotels in Sao Paulo, but said in a posting that she was waiting to go to the morgue.

“I believe Tiago is somewhere trying to help the other people wounded who also need light and love,” she said. “I couldn’t go there (to the morgue). I am here waiting. It is dark here, I need some light and love myself.”

Images recorded by witnesses showed the aircraft in a flat spin and plunging vertically before smashing to the ground inside a gated community, and leaving an obliterated fuselage consumed by fire. Residents said there were no injuries on the ground.

It was the world’s deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that stalled and crashed while making its landing approach. That plane also was an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.

Metsul, one of Brazil’s most respected meteorological companies, said on Friday there were reports of severe icing in Sao Paulo state around the time of the crash. Local media cited experts pointing to icing as a potential cause for the accident.

A video shared on social media channels on Saturday shows a Voepass pilot telling passengers of a flight from Guarulhos to the city of Cascavel, the same origin of the crashed plane, that the ATR 72 has flown safely around the world for decades.

He also asked passengers to be respectful to the memory of his colleagues and the company and asked for prayers.

“This tragedy doesn’t hit only those who perished in this accident. It hits all of us,” the unidentified pilot said. “We are giving all our hearts, all our best to be here and fulfill our mission to take you safely and comfortably to your destination.”

Police restricted access to the main entrance of the Sao Paulo morgue where bodies from the crash were being identified. Some family members of the victims arrived on foot, others came in minivans. None spoke to journalists, and authorities requested that they not be filmed as they came.

A flight carrying more family members from Parana state landed on Saturday afternoon at Guarulhos airport, and they also chose not to speak to journalists. A minivan sponsored by the airline was provided to transport them to the morgue.

Many family members were gathering at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo, and declining to speak to media there, too.

An American Eagle ATR 72-200 crashed on October 31, 1994, and the US National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause was ice build-up while the plane was circling in a holding pattern.

The plane rolled at about 8,000 feet and dove into the ground, killing all 68 people on board. The US Federal Aviation Administration issued operating procedures for ATRs and similar planes telling pilots not to use the autopilot in icing conditions.

Brazil’s air force said on Saturday that both of the plane’s flight recorders had been sent to its analysis laboratory in the capital, Brasilia. The results of its investigations are expected to be published within 30 days, it said.

Marcelo Moura, director of operations for Voepass, told reporters on Friday night that while there were forecasts for ice, they were within acceptable levels for the aircraft.

In an earlier statement, the Brazilian air force’s centre for the investigation and prevention of air accidents said the plane’s pilots did not call for help or say they were operating under adverse weather conditions.