Families of Brazilian plane crash victims gather in Sao Paulo as French experts join investigation
More than 40 families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil have gathered at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as three French government investigators arrived in the country
SAO PAULO — More than 40 families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil gathered Sunday at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as three French government investigators arrived in the country. Forensics experts worked to identify the remains of the 62 people killed.
Sao Paulo state government said the two engines of the plane were removed from the crash site Sunday evening, more than two days after the accident. The rest of the wreckage had already been removed.
The remains of all 34 male and 28 female victims were recovered on Saturday.
The ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop operated by Brazilian airline Voepass was headed for Guarulhos international airport in Sao Paulo with 58 passengers and four crew members aboard when it went down Friday in Vinhedo, 78 kilometers (49 miles) north of the city. Voepass said that three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese identity.
ATR is a French-Italian company. International aviation protocols recommend that investigators from the country of origin of the airplane maker follow inquiries on foreign soil whenever a crash involving one of those planes takes place. Local authorities said that the three French investigators in Brazil work at BEA, the European country's body for civil aviation security.
The bodies of the pilot, Danilo Santos Romano, and his co-pilot, Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, were the first to be identified. Another 10 have been identified since, local authorities said. One body is already set for burial, and another seven
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