Authorities investigating the two black boxes obtained from the crashed site of Voepass plane that killed all 62 persons onboard have said that they have began analysis of the black boxes and the preliminary cause of the aircraft accident would be made known in 30 days.
The plane was carrying 58 passengers and four crew members on the nearly two-hour scheduled flight from Cascavel, Brazil, to São Paulo on Friday when it stalled and crashed in a gated community in the small city of Vinhedo, shortly before reaching its destination.
There was no one on the ground was injured or recorded as casualty.
Aircraft accident investigators in Brazil had on Saturday said that they had recovered the plane’s two black boxes with one containing flight data and the other recordings from the cockpit, adding, they were working to extract information from them.
“There is still no estimated completion date for this work,” Marcelo Moreno, Brazil’s chief crash investigator, said. Adding, “We are prioritizing quality over speed.”
We learnt that the Brazilian investigators would try to understand why the passenger plane fell from 17,000 feet on Friday, in a crash that killed all 62 on board.
Some local media reported that out of the 62 persons killed, 8 cancer doctors who were believed to be working on a cure were among the dead in the plane crash including a lawyer said to be a specialist in lawsuits against airlines.
It was gathered that when the Brazilian authorities began the evacuation of bodies from the crashed site on Saturday, the authorities were using seat assignments, physical characteristics, documents and belongings such as cell phones to identify the victims, according firefighter, Maycon Cristo said at the crash site as reported by Reuters.
More than 40 families of victims of the Voepass airliner crash in Brazil gathered Sunday at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as three French government investigators also arrived in the country to assist to unravel the cause which some aviation observants have blamed the cause on icing weather.
Investigators said a preliminary report on the cause of the aircraft accident is expected within 30 days.
Local media also reported that Captain Danilo Santos Romano, a pilot with a decade of experience, aged 35, was the first victim identified following the disaster in São Paulo state.
Romano had been with Voepass since 2022 and had accumulated over 4,500 flight hours. Colleagues described him as “always smiling” and “willing to help, according to reports.
“Once all this evidence has been collected, we will remove the victims from the wreckage and place them in the vehicle to be transported to Sao Paulo,” Marcelo said.
Family members of the victims have been brought to Sao Paulo to provide DNA samples to aid in identification of the remains, according to state civil defense coordinator, Henguel Pereira.
The plane’s so-called “black box” containing voice recordings and flight data is undergoing analysis, said Marcelo Moreno, the head of Brazilian aviation accident investigation center Cenipa, at a press conference in Vinhedo over the weekend.
The plane, an ATR-72 turboprop, was bound for Sao Paulo from Cascavel, in the state of Parana, and crashed around 1:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) in Vinhedo, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.
All the bodies had been recovered on Sunday, according to the Sao Paulo state government official. The bodies of the pilot and co-pilot were identified, said Dario Pacheco, mayor of Vinhedo.
All the bodies are being moved to Sao Paulo’s police morgue. A Venezuelan man and Portuguese woman are among the dead, state civil defense official, Roberto Farina said, adding that the local consulates have already been contacted, as reported by Reuters International News Agency.
On Friday regional carrier Voepass said the plane was carrying 57 passengers and four crew, but on Saturday the firm confirmed another unaccounted-for passenger was on the flight, putting the number of casualties at 62.
We had reported that all 61 persons including 57 passengers and 4 crew members onboard Voepass airline plane that crashed into residential area in Brazil on Friday have been confirmed dead.
Video recordings posted online by eyewitnesses saw the plane lost the ability to continue to fly and fell directly to the ground with thick smoke billowing immediately.
Voepass airline in a new statement few minutes ago said that 61 people have died.
The death toll was amended to 57 passengers and four crew members.
Voepass had initially in a statement said the flight was carrying 58 passengers and four crew members at the time of the crash.
“The company regrets to inform that all 61 people on board flight 2283 died at the site.
“At this time, Voepass is prioritizing provision of unrestricted assistance to the victims’ families and effectively collaborating with authorities to determine the causes of the accident”, the airline, Voepass said.
The Brazilian Air Force team will investigate the cause of Friday’s deadly plane crash, the Vinhedo City Hall said in a statement.
Vinhedo City Hall said it has been on the site of the crash offering support to other emergency responders. It said in the statement that it is waiting for the Air Force team to arrive, which will be responsible for the investigation, according to CNN.
“The fire outbreaks and major risks have already been controlled; the main objective, from the beginning, was to guarantee the safety of everyone on site and care for possible victims, with Santa Casa de Vinhedo, Santa Casa de Valinhos and Hospital Galileo prepared to offer full support,” the statement added.
Vinhedo City Hall said the bodies of the plane crash victims will be taken to the Legal Medical Institute in Campinas.
Vinhedo City Hall also declared a three-day mourning period in memory of the victims of the crash.
It was gathered that the Brazilian authorities have found the black box at the crash site in Brazil, according to the Security Secretary from São Paulo, Guilherme Derrite.
The Security Secretary said a medical team is onsite and working to identify the victims. Adding that many of the victims’ remains are too badly burned for visual identification.
Officials are in the process of contacting family members of the passengers, according to Derrite. Authorities will release the names of the passengers soon, he said.
We learnt that the Voepass Airlines flight, en route from #Cascavel to São Paulo, went down shortly before reaching its destination.
Firefighters, military police and the civil defense authority have dispatched teams to the crash site in Vinhedo. Authorities have sealed off the entrance to the residential area where the plane went down, as journalists outside watched as official vehicles including ambulances drove in and waited for updates.
“I thought it was going to fall in our yard. It was scary, but thank God there were no victims among the locals. It seems that the 62 people inside the plane were the real victims, though”, a resident told reporters at the crash site.
Video obtained by The Associated Press from a bystander and verified shows at least two bodies strewn about flaming pieces of wreckage.
Brazilian television network GloboNews showed aerial footage of an area with smoke coming out of an obliterated plane fuselage. Additional footage on GloboNews earlier showed the plane drifting downward vertically, spiraling as it fell.
