Explosion suspected in crash that pulverized aircraft

The Reuters news service is reporting that an Embraer 120 turboprop aircraft operated by Rico Linhas Aereas has crashed into the Amazon jungle, killing all 33 pax and crew. Rescue crews have only found scattered debris, and an explosion of some type is suspected as the cause of the crash.

The aircraft was just a couple of minutes away from landing in the city of Manaus when it disappeaed from ATC radar. The remains of the aircraft were found in dense jungle about nine miles from Manaus airport on Friday in northwest Amazonas state, some 1,200 miles from the capital city of Brasilia.

Rescue crews arrived at the site but abandoned the search for survivors when they found only scattered human remains and small fragments of the aircraft. A spokesman for the airline suggested that the lack of any large pieces of wreckage indicated the plane exploded.

One of the coordinators of the rescue mission, Maj. Raimundo Rodrigues da Silva, stated that witnessres had seen a ball of flame near the time of the crash. "We don't know if it was in the air or on the ground," said Rodrigues da Silva, chief of the Amazonas State Fire Department.

The aircraft was carrying a full load of pax from Sao Paulo de Olivenca airport to Manaus, after making stops in the towns of Tabatinga and Tefe.

Embraer, the world's fourth-largest civil aviation manufacturer, is sending a team to the crash site to assist authorities in the investigation.

FMI: http://www.voerico.com.br (Rico Linhas Aereas web site, in Portuguese), Reuters Story