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'We doubt there are survivors'
30/09/2006 23:03 - (SA)
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| Carlos Vieira sits in a hotel in Brasilia after hearing rumours that there were no survivors on the crashed Gol jet. (Ueslei Marcelino, AP) |
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Brasilia - A Brazilian jetliner has crashed deep in the Amazon jungle and officials said on Saturday that they doubted any of the 155 people on board survived.
Air force helicopter pilots discovered the wreckage of Gol airlines Flight 1907 on Saturday.
The plane had vanished after leaving the jungle city of Manaus en route to Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro a day earlier.
The president of Brazil's airport authority, Jose Carlos Pereira, said the Boeing 737-800 jetliner and an executive jet may have hit each other prior to crashing.
Air force helicopter pilots hovering over the crash site saw no signs of an intact fuselage and the debris appeared to cover a small area.
Pereira said the plane had apparently hit the jungle floor at about 500km/h, adding that "at that speed, it is highly unlikely any survivors will be found".
He said the jungle where the plane had crashed was so thick that authorities were planning to lower search and rescue crews by rope from helicopters to the forest floor.
Those on the ground would then cut down trees to create areas large enough for helicopters to land.
'We heard a loud explosion'
The wreckage was found near the 20 000 hectare Jarina cattle ranch, 1 750km northwest of Sao Paulo in the state of Mato Grosso.
"We heard a loud explosion and some of our employees saw a plane flying low," said ranch manager Milton Picalho on Saturday.
He said the plane may have crashed inside the neighbouring 2.8 million-hectare Xingu Indian reservation.
The cause of the crash was unclear, but Pereira said the jetliner may have touched a Brazilian-made Legacy executive jet in flight.
"There was some kind of contact between the two aircraft and it is highly probable that this was the cause," he said. "But we will only be absolutely certain after a full investigation.
"The main question the investigation must address is how can this happen with two ultramodern aircraft with collision-preventing equipment."
'We must have faith'
In a hotel lobby in Brasilia, about 50 weary-eyed relatives and friends of those aboard the plane waited for news of their loved ones.
"The worst thing of all is not knowing how it happened and why it happened," said Carmelita Meira, a 70-year-old grandmother of one of the passengers.
Others waited in a warehouse owned by Gol.
Sergio Misaci, 47, said his brother Lazaro, 58, had been aboard the flight from Manaus and was travelling to Brasilia to celebrate their mother's 80th birthday.
"I have all the hope in the world. We have to root for them and have faith in God," said Misaci on Friday.
It is the first major incident for Gol Linhas Aereas Intelligentes SA, an Brazilian airline that took to the skies with six Boeing 737s in 2001.
Gol said its jet had been delivered by Boeing just three weeks ago, and had been flown for only 200 hours.
- AP
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