All 176 passengers feared dead after Brazilian plane crashes, explodes at Sao Paulo airport
Posted on: Wednesday, 18 July 2007, 00:02 CDT
SAO PAULO, Brazil - A passenger jet crashed and burst into flames after skidding off a runway at Brazil's busiest airport Tuesday and barreling across a busy highway, officials said. All 176 people on board were feared killed in what would be Brazil's deadliest air disaster. The crash happened in heavy rain on a runway at Congonhas airport that had been criticized in the past for being too short
. The TAM Airlines jet slammed into a gas station and a building owned by the airline, said Jose Leonardi Mota, a spokesman with airport authority Infraero. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared three days of national morning for the victims, and presidential spokesman Marcelo Baumbach told reporters late Tuesday that no death toll or cause would be immediately released because it was premature to do so. TAM Airlines said there were 176 people on board the Airbus-320 that crashed - 170 passengers and six crew members. A Brazilian congressman was among those on the flight, his aide said. As many as 12 people on the ground were injured and taken to hospitals, Serra said. Two other planes had slipped off the runway in rainy weather on Monday, but no one was injured in either incident.Source: Associated Press/AP Online
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