 Brazil jet disaster probe begins
Rescue workers and crash investigators are searching the wreckage of an Airbus 320 Brazilian passenger jet that crashed in flames at Sao Paulo airport. All 186 people on board Tam Airlines Flight 3054 from the southern city of Porto Alegre died, as well as up to 15 people on the ground.
The plane slipped on Congonhas airport runway as it landed in driving rain.
The pilot tried to take off again, but the jet slid across a busy road, hit a fuel depot and warehouse, and exploded.
Congonhas airport is notorious for its short and often slippery runway, and its proximity to the city centre.
Among others, the investigation is to look into the condition of the recently resurfaced runway, concerns about which had been the subject of court decisions.
Runway ban
Reports spoke of motorists being killed on the road and people jumping out of the windows of the low-rise Tam Airlines building.
"The plane accelerated when it reached the end of the runway and tried to take off again to avoid the road, but it crashed into the building and exploded," eyewitness Junior Matos told AFP news agency.
Guido Reusch, who was on an apartment block balcony overlooking the runway, told the BBC that he had watched the plane coming in.
"It touched down in front of us, left the runway, slid off behind the buildings at the end of the runway and crashed," he said.
"There was a big explosion from behind the buildings, and fire and smoke flew up into the air, and we could smell the smoke being blown across the airport," Mr Reusch added.
More than 100 bodies have now been recovered from the wreckage, many of them charred beyond recognition.
A Brazilian opposition congressman, Julio Redecker, is reported to have been among those on the flight.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has declared three days of national mourning for the victims of what is thought to be Brazil's worst air disaster.
The state's attorney general, Rodrigo Pinho, said the authorities would carry out a thorough crash investigation "to determine the cause and to identify who was responsible".
(BBC)
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