Rescue workers hunted for bodies in the smoking wreckage of an airliner today after it crashed at Brazil's busiest airport, killing up to 200 people in the country's worst air disaster.
The terminal at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport echoed with the shock and sorrow of survivors and relatives of the dead.
By midday, firefighters had pulled 128 charred bodies from the Airbus A320 that was carrying 186 people when it skidded off a rain-soaked runway late last night and slammed into a gas station and cargo terminal just beyond the airport.
Three other victims were rushed to hospital but then died, raising the official toll to 131. State officials said they did not expect any survivors from the flight operated by Brazil's No. 1 carrier, TAM Linhas Aereas.
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| Firefighters are seen near the site where a TAM airlines commercial jet crashed in Sao Paulo |
The death toll could reach 200, counting casualties on the ground, one fire chief told local media.
The airport reopened today, using an alternate runway. But the mood was somber and some travelers were reluctant to fly.
"A plane just crashed, it's hard not to be scared," said Jose Lenza, a civil servant who decided to drive back home to Brasilia instead of flying.
Rescue teams recovered the cockpit recorder from the wreckage, which was still spewing black smoke. The site was cordoned off and bodies were taken quickly to the morgue.
The crash was the second major air disaster in Brazil in less than a year. In September, 154 people were killed when a Brazilian Boeing 737 clipped wings with a private jet and crashed in the Amazon jungle.
That accident thrust Brazil's aviation system into disarray as air traffic controllers, feeling they were being blamed for the disaster, went on strike to protest poor pay and what they called unreliable radar and radio coverage.
Yesterday's crash highlighted long-standing safety concerns about Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, known for slippery runways and a symbol of the country's chaotic air transport system.
The TAM plane was trying to land on a runway that was repaved in June after officials tried to ban wide-bodied jets from the airport over fears they could skid off its short landing strips.
Brazil's airport authority said the runway still had not been grooved to drain water during heavy rains, prompting accusations that the government brushed aside safety concerns in its zeal to reopen the landing strip.
"It was a pre-announced tragedy, an accident in waiting," said Sandra Assali, president of the Brazilian association of friends and relatives of air crash victims.
A congressional inquiry is already investigating aviation security and accusations that directors at the national airport authority took bribes from contractors.