News / Travel
Death Toll Expected to Rise in Brazilian Airliner Disaster
At least 189 people have been confirmed dead and that number is expected to rise after an airliner attempting to land in Sao Paulo, Brazil burst into flames after skidding across a rain drenched runway and slamming into a gas station on Tuesday.
All 186 passengers and crew aboard the TAM airlines Airbus-320 are believed dead as well as at least three people who were on the ground.
According to witnesses the plane was unable to land on the short runaway at Congonhas airport and the pilot attempted to take off a again but struck a gas station and a TAM building, bursting into flames.
Emergency workers were able to recover the “black box” flight data recorder from the plane but the estimated 1,830 degrees heat inside the plane left little doubt of the passengers’ fate.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared three days of national mourning following the tragedy.
