vôo 3054 da TAM - Estou triste pelos meus amigos de trabalho na TAM

Incêndio permanece fora de controle; chances de sobrevivência diminuem Publicidade

O vôo 3054 da TAM --com passageiros a bordo-- derrapou na noite desta terça-feira quando pousava no aeroporto de Congonhas (zona sul de São Paulo) e bateu contra um depósito da empresa que fica do lado oposto da avenida Washington Luís. O choque provocou um incêndio de grandes proporções.

O Corpo de Bombeiros enfrenta dificuldades para controlar as chamas. O avião é um Airbus A-320 com capacidade para 170 passageiros que partiu de Porto Alegre (RS) às 17h16 com destino a Congonhas. O número de pessoas que estava a bordo não foi confirmado. A cada minuto, diminuem as chances de encontrar sobreviventes, inclusive devido à fumaça.

O Corpo de Bombeiros está começando a desocupar casas e imóveis na região do incêndio por causa do risco das chamas se alastrarem. A Eletropaulo também vai cortar a energia elétrica da região.

Em comunicado, a TAM afirmou que "neste momento não podemos determinar a extensão dos danos ou de possíveis lesões sofridas pelos ocupantes do avião". A empresa ativou seu Programa de Assistência às Vítima e Familiares e disponibilizou um número de chamadas gratuitas para atender familiares dos passageiros e tripulantes deste vôo: 0800-117900.

Dezenas de carros do Corpo de Bombeiros estão no local para controlar as chamas, retirar pessoas de dentro do galpão da TAM Express --empresa de transporte de cargas-- e do avião. O acidente obrigou a Infraero (estatal que administra os aeroportos do país) a suspender todos os vôos e decolagens do aeroporto.

Por conta do acidente, a avenida Washington Luiz está interditada, de acordo com a CET (Companhia de Engenharia de Tráfego). A lentidão se reflete nas avenidas 23 de Maio e Rubem Berta. A recomendação é para que os motoristas evitem a zona sul da cidade.

O analista de suporte técnico de informática da Varig Levi Lourenço saía do trabalho quando ouviu o barulho do avião caindo. Como não conseguiu ver o acidente, pensou se tratar de um teste de turbina, como ocorre normalmente no prédio em que trabalha.

Segundo Levi, o avião da TAM tentou aterrissar na pista principal do aeroporto, derrapou e atravessou a Washington Luís, próxima à rua Otávio Tarquínio de Souza. "Como não conseguiu pousar, o avião atingiu o prédio do serviço de carga da TAM", disse.

(SAO PAULO, Brazil) — A plane crashed and burst into flames after skidding off a runway that had been criticized as being too short at Brazil's busiest airport, and all 176 people aboard were feared dead, the state governor said.

The Tam airline jet slid off the runway at Congonhas airport in a driving rain, then barreled across a busy road at the height of rush hour before slamming into a gas station and a building owned by the airline, said Jose Leonardi Mota, a spokesman with airport authority Infraero.

TV footage showed flames and clouds of black smoke billowing into the air after the crash.

"I was told that the temperature inside the plane was 1,000 degrees (Celsius), so the chances of there being any survivors are practically nil," Sao Paulo State Gov. Jose Serra told reporters at the airport. That temperature in Celsius is equivalent to about 1,830 degrees Fahrenheit.

As many as 12 people on the ground were injured and taken to hospitals, Serra said.

Tam worker Elias Rodrigues Jesus, walking near the site just as the crash happened, told The Associated Press that the jet exploded in between the gas station and a warehouse owned by Tam.

"All of a sudden I heard a loud explosion, and the ground beneath my feet shook," said Jesus, who added that he saw one charred body. "I looked up and I saw a huge ball of fire, and then I smelled the stench of kerosene and sulfur."

Tam Linhas Aereas flight 3054 was en route to Sao Paulo from the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre with 170 passengers six crew members, Tam said in a statement.

"At this moment, we cannot determine the extent of possible injuries suffered by the airplanes occupants and crew members," the airline said in a statement.

Distraught relatives of passengers crowded Tam's check-in counters in Porto Alegre, complaining hours after the crash that the airline had not yet released a passenger list, Globo TV reported.

The accident happened during heavy rains, and critics have said for years that such an accident was possible at the airport because its runway is too short for large planes landing in rainy weather.

A federal court in February briefly banned takeoffs and landings of large jets at the airport because of safety concerns at the airport, which handles huge volumes of flights for the massive domestic Brazilian air travel market.

But an appeals court overruled the ban, saying it was too harsh because it would have severe economic ramifications and that there were not enough safety concerns to prevent the planes from landing and taking off the airport.

Tuesday's crash came 10 months after Brazil's deadliest crash, a September collision between a Gol Aerolinhas Inteligentes SA Boeing 737 and an executive jet over the Amazon rainforest.

All 154 people on the Gol jet died. The executive jet landed safely.

The crash highlighted Brazil's increasing aviation woes, as a surge in travelers overwhelms underfunded air traffic control systems. A Brazilian judge indicted four flight controllers and the smaller jet's two U.S. pilots on the equivalent of manslaughter charges, but the defendants point to other problems — from holes in radar coverage to the inability of some Brazilian controllers to clearly speak English, the language of international aviation.

Controllers — concerned about being made scapegoats — have engaged in strikes and work slowdowns to raise safety concerns, causing or exacerbating lengthy delays and cancelations.

Angry travelers have stormed airline check-in counters and runways in Brazil, and fistfights have broken out in waiting areas.

Associated Press writers Stan Lehman and Vivian Sequera contributed from Sao Paulo and Brasilia.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1644377,00.html