Families of Brazil Plane Crash Victims Gather in Sao Paulo, Experts Work to Identify Bodies

10 August 2024, Brazil, Vinhedo: An aerial view shows debris lying at the site of a plane crash in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. Photo: Allison Sales/dpa
10 August 2024, Brazil, Vinhedo: An aerial view shows debris lying at the site of a plane crash in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. Photo: Allison Sales/dpa
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Families of Brazil Plane Crash Victims Gather in Sao Paulo, Experts Work to Identify Bodies

10 August 2024, Brazil, Vinhedo: An aerial view shows debris lying at the site of a plane crash in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. Photo: Allison Sales/dpa
10 August 2024, Brazil, Vinhedo: An aerial view shows debris lying at the site of a plane crash in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. Photo: Allison Sales/dpa

Families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil are gathering Sunday at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as forensics experts work to identify the remains of the 62 people killed in the accident.
Local authorities said the bodies of the pilot, Danilo Santos Romano, and his co-pilot, Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, were the first to be identified by forensics experts.
Sao Paulo state government said in a statement Saturday evening that the remains of all the victims had been recovered, The Associated Press reported. There were 34 male and 28 female bodies in the wreckage, it said.
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 when it went down Friday in Vinhedo, 78 kilometers (49 miles) north of the metropolis. Voepass said three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese.
Sao Paulo’s morgue began receiving the bodies Friday evening, and it asked victims’ relatives to bring in medical, X-ray and dental records to help identify the bodies. Blood tests were also done to help identification efforts.
Residents said there were no injuries on the ground.
It was the world's deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that stalled and crashed while making its landing approach. That plane also was an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.

Brazilian aviation expert Lito Sousa cautioned that meteorological conditions alone might not be enough to explain why the Voepass plane fell in the manner it did Friday.
“Analyzing an air crash just with images can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Sousa told The Associated Press by phone. “But we can see a plane with loss of support, no horizontal speed. In this flat spin condition, there’s no way to reclaim control of the plane.”
Brazil’s air force said Saturday that both of the plane’s flight recorders had been sent to its analysis laboratory in the capital, Brasilia. The results of its investigations are expected to be published within 30 days, it said.
 



Russia Teams up with China at Start of Big Naval Drills 

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, Russian and Chinese warships sail in the Peter the Great Gulf during Ocean-2024 strategic command and staff exercises in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, Russian and Chinese warships sail in the Peter the Great Gulf during Ocean-2024 strategic command and staff exercises in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
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Russia Teams up with China at Start of Big Naval Drills 

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, Russian and Chinese warships sail in the Peter the Great Gulf during Ocean-2024 strategic command and staff exercises in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, Russian and Chinese warships sail in the Peter the Great Gulf during Ocean-2024 strategic command and staff exercises in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russian and Chinese warships began exercises on Tuesday as part of what Moscow said was a major set of naval drills stretching from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.

Russia's Defense Ministry said four Chinese warships and a supply vessel teamed up with Russian ships in Peter the Great Bay, south of Vladivostok, for exercises "to defend sea communications and areas of maritime economic activity".

It said those drills were part of much larger maneuvers involving more than 400 Russian warships, submarines and support vessels that would run until Sept. 16 in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and the Mediterranean, Baltic and Caspian seas.

China's official Xinhua news agency said on Monday that the aim of the exercise with Russia was to deepen "the level of strategic coordination between the Chinese and Russian militaries and enhance their ability to jointly respond to security threats".

Russia's armed forces have been heavily stretched on land and sea for the past two and a half years by its war in Ukraine. Ukrainian forces, despite being vastly outgunned in naval firepower, have managed to inflict damaging blows on Moscow's Black Sea Fleet.

Russia has nevertheless continued to stage large-scale military exercises - including thousands of miles away in its far east - in order to project power and build defense ties with partners, especially China.