155 missing Brazilian passengers feared dead
Sunday, 01 Oct 2006 12:45
The plane's wreckage was discovered in the Amazon jungle
Three days of national mourning have been declared in Brazil after rescue teams appeared to give up hope of finding any survivors among the 155 people aboard the plane that crashed in the Amazon rainforest yesterday.
The wreckage of the Gol Airlines flight was discovered yesterday by rescue planes, with indications suggesting that it had crashed nose-first into the densely-forested jungle canopy.
"At this moment there is no way of telling if there are any survivors," Denise Abreu, a director of the Brazilian aviation agency, said yesterday.
The plane left the Amazonian city of Manaus on Friday and was due to land at Brasilia airport at 18:12 local time (22:12 BST).
Contact was lost with the flight when it was above the remote town of Sao Felix do Araguaia at 16:50 local time (20:50 BST) yesterday, and reports on Saturday said that the brand-new Boeing 737-800 had been involved in a mid-air collision.
The mayor of a small town in the Amazon state of Mato Grosso told the Reuters news agency that the plane had crashed after colliding with a smaller jet mid-flight.
"From the information we have, the plane fell on Jarina farm. Hospitals in the region are ready to receive the injured," Valter Mioto said.
Officials have been unable to confirm Mr Mioto's claims, but aviation experts had initially expressed incredulity at the fact that two modern planes with anti-collision detection systems could be involved in such an accident.
Low-cost carrier Gol has confirmed that Boeing delivered the new plane on September 12th.
Reports from the Brazilian Globo news agency said that a smaller plane had landed safely at the town of Serra de Cachimbo with damage to both its tail and one wing.