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A Brazilian air force plane on Tuesday carried the remains of three of the 62 people killed in last week's plane crash to a small, distraught city in the country's south where they were to be handed over to their families for burial.
Forensics experts have so far identified 45 of the victims and authorized that the remains of 27 of them be returned to their families, the Sao Paulo state government said later Tuesday.
Eight of the victims had been returned by Monday night to their families. The 35-year-old pilot of the plane, Danilo Santos Romano, was the first to be buried. He was laid to rest on Monday in the city of Sao Paulo.
Authorities were still working to determine what caused the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop of the local airline Voepass to plunge from the sky on Friday with 58 passengers and four crew members aboard. Footage of the crash had shocked people around the world.
The plane was headed for the Guarulhos international airport when it crashed in the nearby city of Vinhedo. Both of the plane’s “black boxes” — one with flight data and the other with cockpit audio — that are key to determining what went wrong have been found.
The air force is analyzing them at a laboratory in the nation’s capital, Brasilia, and has said it will issue a preliminary report within 30 days. A criminal probe is also underway. Voepass and French-Italian plane manufacturer ATR are collaborating with the investigation.
In the rural city of Cascavel in the country’s south, more than a dozen families were divided on whether to hold a mass funeral for their kin or just separate, private ceremonies.
The remains of two of the passengers would stay in Cascavel, while that of the third would be taken to the city of Pelotas, Brazil's air force said in a statement.
Cascavel Mayor Leonaldo Paranhos told local media on Tuesday that 27 of the victims of the crash lived in the west of Paraná state, where his city is located. More than ten families were preparing private ceremonies, he said, while a local conference center would be available for those who want to hold a collective funeral.
The remains of two more victims would be taken to Cascavel later on Tuesday with a regular airliner, Paranhos also said.
Some experts have pointed to the possibility of severe icing on the wings of the plane, which caused pilots to lose control, but airports minister Silvio Costa Filho told reporters Friday that Romano and his copilot made no calls for an emergency landing, nor did they communicate any adverse weather conditions.
