Brazilian authorities have identified 21 bodies from the plane crash that left 62 dead on Friday in the municipality of Vinhedo, in the state of São Paulo. The remains have already been removed from the scene of the accident by security forces and sent to the state’s Central Medical-Legal Institute (IML).
According to a report by the local newspaper Estadão, the IML Central is closed in order to work exclusively for the victims of the accident. At around 9:30 p.m. local time on Friday, under heavy rain, a truck arrived at the IML Central building. According to officials, it will be used to transport the bodies.
The first bodies are expected to arrive at the IML on Saturday and the formal identification process will begin. Fire Department agents removed 21 bodies of victims from the site of the plane crash.
To assist in identifying bodies, relatives are asked to submit any medical examinations or documentation of the victims to IML Headquarters, such as radiological, medical or dental examinations.
Any dental treatment, such as root canal, implant, prosthesis, panoramic surgery, orthodontic appliances, as well as any medical treatment for prostheses, such as pins, plates, fractures, screws, help in the process, reported the IML. This is because, for identification, it is necessary to have some element to compare with the bodies, said Estadão.
The IML has more than 20 doctors, as well as forensic dentistry, anthropology and radiology teams. Five teams will be sent to Vinhedo to help collect the bodies.
The accident
The plane, from the Voepass airline, fell vertically, spinning around until it crashed in an area of vegetation in a residential area, near a house. There were no survivors among the 62 occupants of the plane, including 58 passengers and four crew members, according to Brazilian authorities.
Colonel Cássio de Araújo de Freitas, of the Sao Paulo Military Police, said there were no casualties on the ground because the plane crashed in “an empty area” within the Recanto Florido condominium, a high-income housing development.
The aircraft, a twin-engine ATR-72-500 model, was travelling between the cities of Cascavel and Sao Paulo and crashed shortly before 1:25 p.m. local time (4:25 p.m. GMT), when it was about 80 kilometres from reaching Guarulhos airport, its destination.
The plane was flying at an altitude of around 3,500 metres and crashed in about a minute, according to data from the specialist website Flightradar.
The vertical fall was filmed from various angles by several residents of Vinhedo, in videos that were shared on social media. Several witnesses said they heard a loud noise before seeing the plane fall.
The accident triggered a fire that was quickly extinguished, although firefighters continued working hours later to cool the fuselage.
The Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (Cenipa) and the Federal Police have opened separate investigations to determine the causes of the accident. Investigators have already located the black boxes of the aircraft, according to Cenipa.
According to Flightradar, the plane had made two more flights on Friday morning before the crash.
Minutes after the news broke, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his regret for the accident and called for a minute of silence in tribute to the victims.
This is the most serious air accident to occur on Brazilian soil since 2007, when a TAM flight crashed into a warehouse after leaving the runway at São Paulo’s Congonhas airport, killing 199 people. In 2009, a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in international waters, killing all 216 people on board.