Dozens of bodies found at Brazil plane crash site

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Oct 3 (Reuters) Searchers found dozens of bodies at the Amazon site of Brazil's worst airplane disaster today and started to fly remains to the capital as investigators tried to determine how two planes collided.

An air force spokesman said coroners and rescue workers were trying to separate human remains, but could not say how many corpses had been found. All 155 people on board the Boeing 737-800, owned by budget Gol airline, died in Friday's crash.

''They find separate remains, but it does not necessarily mean one body in each case. It may be several. We're talking about pieces in most cases,'' he said.

The first remains found on Sunday were being sent to Brasilia today, he said.

Earlier, aviation officials said more than 100 bodies had been found, but the air force, which is in charge of the search, could not confirm the number.

Meanwhile, two US pilots of a smaller Legacy executive jet that authorities believe clipped the Boeing arrived in Rio de Janeiro from the Amazon for medical and psychological tests at the Aerospace Medical Center as part of the investigation. They cannot leave Brazil while the probe is on.

The ExcelAire Embraer Legacy 600 jet, landed at a military base in the jungle at Cachimbo, after losing a winglet in a collision.

None of the seven people on board were hurt.

Air Force commander Luiz Carlos Bueno said yesterday the two planes were flying at 37,000 feet, which means that one of them had abandoned its flight plan.

In any case, it was not clear why the modern collision avoidance equipment installed on both planes didn't prevent the accident, local aviation authorities said.

The black box from the Boeing will probably be taken to the United States for analysis, after which it will be compared with the data from the Legacy jet, made by Brazil's Embraer, Bueno said.

The US National Transportation Safety Board also sent investigators to Brazil to assist in the probe of the Gol Linhas Aereas crash. NTSB experts are often called in to assist with overseas crash investigations.

REUTERS SP BD2110