Little chance of survivors in Brazil crash

 

POSTED: 2:35 p.m. EDT, September 30, 2006

 

Story Highlights

• Brazilian officials: Survivors unlikely; at least 145 people on board

• Officials: Airliner may have clipped smaller plane before crashing in Amazon

• Helicopters sending rescuers down by rope to cut trees at crash site

• Gol airliner plunged into ground at 310 mph, Brazil's airport authority chief tells AP

 

SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNN) -- No one is believed to have survived the crash of Gol Airlines Flight 1907 in Brazil's Amazon region, said rescuers, as they struggled with dense rainforest to reach the wreckage Saturday.

 

After a grueling overnight search, air force pilots spotted pieces of the airliner, which was carrying at least 145 people, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the city of Peixoto de Azevedo, Gol Airlines said.

 

Brazil's defense minister and airport officials said the plane may have clipped a corporate jet before crashing into the jungle. Brazilian authorities had first believed the planes collided, but then backed off that explanation.

 

The corporate jet, a Legacy 600 made by Embraer, safely landed in Cachimbo. Its pilot reported seeing, "out of nowhere, a large shadow" passing his plane, clipping his wing, and forcing an emergency landing, said Defense Minister Waldir Pires.

 

Embraer said it would cooperate in the investigation and offered sympathy to victims' families.

 

Gol Airlines Flight 1907 was traveling at nearly 500 kph (310 mph) when it slammed into the ground, Brazil's airport authority chief, Jose Carlos Pereira said, according to The Associated Press.

 

"When one cannot find the fuselage relatively intact and when the wreckage is concentrated in a relatively small area, the chances of finding any survivors are practically nonexistent," AP quoted Pereira as saying.

 

Helicopters were lowering the emergency crews by rope, so they could cut down trees for access to the site, Pereira said, according to AP.

 

"It's a very complex operation, it's extremely humid there, and there are millions of mosquitoes," he said, according to AP.

 

The plane was heading from Manaus to Brasilia, and was set to land at 6:12 p.m. (5:12 p.m. ET) Friday before going on to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, a spokesman for Brazilian civil aviation said.

 

It was last heard from at at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), officials said.

 

The plane disappeared from radar screens while over military-controlled airspace, the civil aviation spokesman said.

 

The site of the crash is in the same region where Varig Flight 254 crashed in September 1989. Thirteen people died in that crash; 42 survived.

 

If no survivors are found, it will be the deadliest airliner crash in Brazil's history. Up till now, Brazil's worst air accident was the crash of a Vasp 747 in the northeastern city of Fortaleza in 1982, which killed 137 people, AP reported.

 

The aircraft was new, with only 200 hours of flying time, and had just been received from the manufacturer on September 12, a Gol statement said.

 

Gol is the fastest-growing airline in South America and was launched in January 2001 as the first low-fare airline in Brazil.

 

Source: CNN.com

 

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:( Such awful, awful news. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims' friends and families.

heard this on the news hope the plane can be found and the people are alright.

wait a sec.....military controlled airspace.......