UPDATE 1 -- Regional airliner crashes in northeastern Brazil, killing 16 people

[News_Editor]

UPDATE 1 -- Regional airliner crashes in northeastern Brazil, killing 16 people

2011-07-13 19:36:55 GMT+7 (ICT)

RECIFE, BRAZIL (BNO NEWS) -- A regional jet flying for Brazilian airline Noar Linhas Aereas crashed in northeastern Brazil on Wednesday morning, the government said, killing all 16 people on board.

The accident happened shortly after the Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft took off from Guararapes-Gilberto Freyre International Airport in Recife, one of Brazil's largest cities in the country's northeast. "Immediately after that, the plane declared an emergency situation and stated it would try to land on the beach of Boa Viagem," the Brazilian Air Force said in a statement.

But before the crew of the aircraft was able to attempt an emergency landing at the beach, the plane crashed in a vacant lot in Recife at around 6.51 a.m. local time. The Air Force said the aircraft was completely destroyed and that there were no survivors.

"The flight manifest showed there were 16 people on board," the Air Force said in a statement. "This information was confirmed by the crew during initial contact with air traffic control before takeoff."

It was not immediately clear what caused the accident, but weather did not appear to have been a factor.

In late April, seven people were killed when an Amazonaves Air Taxi crashed shortly after takeoff from Eduardo Gomes International Airport, just west of Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas. There were no survivors.

And in July 2007, nearly 200 people were killed when TAM Airlines Flight 3054 crashed upon landing in Sao Paulo. It remains the deadliest ever aviation accident in Latin America history.

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