Brazil aircrash leaves 16 dead

Sao Paulo, Jul 14: On Wednesday morning, Jul 13 the LET-410 aircraft of Noar Airlines crashed in Recife, capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco after reporting an onboard emergency, killing all of its 16 occupants.

The plane took off at 6:51 am (0951 am GMT) with two crew members and fourteen passengers bound for Natal, north of the Brazilian coast.

The twin-engine aircraft was completely charred in the disaster, which left a wide area of denuded terrain where a fire had ignited the crash site, officials said.

The aviation official said that the pilot had reported an "emergency situation" aboard the aircraft to air traffic controllers and said he was going to attempt an emergency landing shortly before crashing about 100 meters (300 feet) short of the beach that was intended.

"I saw a woman in a window (of the plane) asking for help and it just exploded," witness said "but there was nothing to be done." A witness' video posted on the Folha newspaper's website showed the aircraft in flames on the ground, black plumes of smoke rising from it, a crowd of onlookers gathered nearby. Morning traffic crawled along a highway between the vacant lot where the plane went down and a strip of beach.

OneIndia News