No Reports Of Survivors After Plane Crash In Brazil

Five air force planes were called in to search the densely forested region Saturday after the Gol Airlines Boeing 737 vanished en route from the river city of Manaus, which lies in the heart of the Amazon, to Brasilia on Friday.

The flight was then scheduled to move on to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo.

Aviation officials said Flight 1907 disappeared about 210 kilometres south of the city of Cachimbo in Para state, about 2110 kilometres northwest of Rio.

Authorities found the craft in the state of Mato Grosso Saturday morning.

“Our experience shows that when one cannot find the fuselage relatively intact and when the wreckage is concentrated in a relatively small area, the chances of finding any survivors are practically non-existent,” the president of Brazil’s airport authority, Jose Carlos Pereira, said.

There is speculation that the Gol plane was involved in a mid-air collision with a smaller Legacy 600 executive jet – the Legacy managed to land with damage to its wing and tail. But authorities are unable to confirm that was what happened.

“It is impossible to confirm that there is a relation between the incident which caused the (Legacy) crew to perform an emergency landing in Cachimbo and the disappearance of the Gol airplane,” federal aviation officials said in a statement early Saturday morning.

There has been no other official explanation yet as to what could’ve caused the crash.

The Brazilian-made Legacy plane, which carries up to 16 passengers, was making its first flight to the United States and an American citizen was piloting the craft, which left from the airport in Sao Jose dos Campos, near Sao Paulo.

About 70 people gathered in a warehouse owned by Gol Airlines at the Brasilia airport, awaiting word on their missing loved ones.

Despite the fact that most of the people on board are presumed dead, some people who’d gathered at the airport held out hope that they’d see their family members again.

“I have all the hope in the world. We have to root for them and have faith in God,” said Sergio Misaci, whose brother was on board.

Gol is a popular discount airline in Brazil, which took to the skies in 2001. It is Brazil’s second-largest airline.
 

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