Brazil Crash Death Toll Nears 200

No survivors expected after plane loses control on landing
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2007 10:12 AM CDT
Brazil Crash Death Toll Nears 200
Relatives of passengers of the TAM airlines commercial jet that crashed in Sao Paulo, demand information at the Salgado Filho airport in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Tuesday, July 17, 2007. The plane with as many as 170 people aboard coming from Porto Alegre crashed and burst into flames in Sao Paulo after...   (Associated Press)

The death toll in last night's plane crash at the Sao Paulo airport is expected to near 200, making it the worst in Brazil's history, officials said today as rescuers continued pulling bodies from the rubble. The Airbus 320 had 186 people onboard, and more died on the ground when the aircraft skidded into a building and exploded.

The crash, in a driving rain at a facility known for trouble with runway drainage,  is already refocusing attention on Brazil's dangerous aviation system, Reuters reports. It's the second major air disaster for Brazil in less than a year; 154 people died in September when a 737 hit a private jet and crashed in the Amazon. (More Brazil stories.)

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