Brazilian rescuers on Saturday found the remains of 62 victims of an airliner that crashed the day before in the city of Vinhedo near Sao Paulo, killing all on board.
The bodies of most of the victims — 34 men and 28 women — have already been taken to the Sao Paulo police morgue for identification. The bodies of the pilot and co-pilot were identified earlier in the day, said Dario Pacheco, the mayor of Vinhedo.
According to regional carrier Voepass, which operated the plane, four people with dual citizenship were among the victims: three Venezuelans and one Portuguese.
The Venezuelans were a four-year-old boy, his mother and grandmother, local outlet Globo News reported. The boy's dog was also on board the plane, which the family was later planning to take to Colombia, the outlet reported.
Voepass said on Friday that there were 57 passengers and four crew members on board the plane, but the company confirmed on Saturday that there was another missing passenger on board, bringing the death toll to 62.
Firefighter Maicon Cristo, who was at the crash site earlier Saturday as bodies were being pulled from the wreckage, said authorities were using location data, physical characteristics, documents and personal items such as mobile phones to identify victims.
Relatives of the victims have been brought to Sao Paulo to provide DNA samples to help identify the remains, state civil defence coordinator Hengel Pereira said.
The head of Brazil's aviation accident investigation center Cenipa, Marcelo Moreno, said at a press conference in Vinhedo that the plane's so-called “black box,” which contains voice recordings and flight data, was being analyzed.
The plane, an ATR-72 turboprop, was en route to Sao Paulo from Cascavel, Paraná state, when it crashed around 1:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) in Vinhedo, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo. Although the plane crashed in a residential area, no one on the ground was injured.
The Brazilian Air Force said in a statement that the plane was flying normally until 1:21 p.m., when it stopped responding to calls and lost radar contact at 1:22 p.m.
The pilots did not report any emergency or adverse weather conditions, the Air Force added.
Franco-Italian ATR, which is jointly owned by Airbus and Leonardo, is a leading maker of regional turboprop aircraft with seats between 40 and 70. ATR told Reuters on Friday that it was “fully involved” in the investigation into the crash.