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Brazil's air force flies the remains of 3 victims of last week's plane crash to their families

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Brazil's air force flies the remains of 3 victims of last week's plane crash to their families
News

News

Brazil's air force flies the remains of 3 victims of last week's plane crash to their families

2024-08-14 05:32 Last Updated At:05:40

SAO PAULO (AP) — 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.

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Air Force members load the remains of plane crash victims into a plane to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members load the remains of plane crash victims into a plane to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Family members of a plane crash victim stand by their remains during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane, to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Family members of a plane crash victim stand by their remains during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane, to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members carry the remains of a plane crash victim during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane to transport to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members carry the remains of a plane crash victim during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane to transport to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Family members of plane crash victims stand by the remains during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane, to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Family members of plane crash victims stand by the remains during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane, to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members load the remains of plane crash victims into a plane to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members load the remains of plane crash victims into a plane to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

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.

Air Force members load the remains of plane crash victims into a plane to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members load the remains of plane crash victims into a plane to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Family members of a plane crash victim stand by their remains during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane, to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Family members of a plane crash victim stand by their remains during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane, to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members carry the remains of a plane crash victim during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane to transport to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members carry the remains of a plane crash victim during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane to transport to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Family members of plane crash victims stand by the remains during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane, to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Family members of plane crash victims stand by the remains during a religious ceremony shortly before many of the victim's remains are placed in an Air Force plane, to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members load the remains of plane crash victims into a plane to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Air Force members load the remains of plane crash victims into a plane to transport them to their families in Cascavel where the Aug. 9 flight originated, at an Air Force base in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Donald Trump began his first day as the 47th president of the United States with a dizzying display of force, signing a blizzard of executive orders that signaled his desire to remake American institutions while also pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Here's the latest:

He pledged to remove more than 1,000 presidential appointees “who are not aligned with our vision.”

In a post on his TruthSocial platform, Trump dismissed chef and humanitarian Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Ret. Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, former State Dept. official Brian Hook from the board of the Wilson Center, and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council.

“YOUR’E FIRED!” he wrote in a post just after midnight Tuesday.

Milley, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Trump, received a pardon from former President Joe Biden on Monday over concerns he could be criminally targeted by the new administration. His portrait in the Pentagon was also removed. Hook, who was Trump’s Iran envoy during his first term, had been involved in the Trump administration transition. No reasoning was given for his firing.

Former President Joe Biden also removed many Trump appointees in his first days in office, including former press secretary Sean Spicer from the board overseeing the U.S. Naval Acadamy.

Rep. Elise Stefanik is likely to face questions at her confirmation hearing Tuesday to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations about her lack of foreign policy experience, her strong support for Israel and her views on funding the U.N. and its many agencies.

Harvard-educated and the fourth-ranking member of the U.S. House, she was elected to Congress in 2015 as a moderate Republican and is leaving a decade later as one of President Trump’s most ardent allies.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “looks forward to working again with President Trump on his second term,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday.

When she appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Stefanik is likely to be grilled about her views on the wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere as well as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs — all issues on the U.N. agenda.

▶ Read more about Elise Stefanik’s confirmation hearing

Scholz said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that “not every press conference in Washington, not every tweet should send us straight into excited, existential debates. That’s also the case after the change of government that took place in Washington yesterday.”

Scholz said the U.S. is Germany’s closest ally outside Europe and he’ll do everything to keep in that way.

He acknowledged that Trump and his administration “will keep the world on tenterhooks in the coming years” in energy, climate, trade and security policy. But he said “we can and will deal with all this, without unnecessary agitation and outrage, but also without false ingratiation or telling people what they want to hear.”

Scholz said of Trump’s “America First” approach that there’s nothing wrong with looking to the interests of one’s own country – “we all do that. But it is also the case that cooperation and agreement with others are mostly also in one’s interest.”

Speaking in the Oval Office Monday, Trump rejected Biden’s warning that the U.S. is becoming an “ oligarchy ” for tech billionaires, saying the executives supported Democrats until they realized Biden “didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.”

“They did desert him,” Trump added. “They were all with him, every one of them, and now they are all with me.”

Despite taking millions from the executives and their companies for his inaugural committee — and receiving more than $200 million in assistance from Musk in his presidential campaign — Trump claimed he didn’t need their money and they wouldn’t be receiving anything in return.

“They’re not going to get anything from me,” Trump said. “I don’t need money, but I do want the nation to do well, and they’re smart people and they create a lot of jobs.”

Some of the most exclusive seats at Trump’s inauguration on Monday were reserved for powerful tech CEOs who also happen to be among the world’s richest men.

That’s a shift from tradition, especially for a president who has characterized himself as a champion of the working class. Seats so close to the president are usually reserved for the president’s family, past presidents and other honored guests.

The mega-rich have long had a prominent role in national politics, and several billionaires helped bankroll the campaign of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

But the inaugural display highlights the unusually direct role the world’s wealthiest people will likely have in the new administration. In his outgoing address, Biden warned that the U.S. was becoming an oligarchy of tech billionaires wielding dangerous levels of power and influence on the nation.

▶ Read more about the billionaires at Trump’s inauguration

Outside the National Cathedral, just a few hours before the Interfaith Service of Prayer for the Nation, which both President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to attend, the scene before was decidedly quiet.

At the Cathedral only a few dog walkers dotted the sidewalk and the police presence was low.

It was a far cry from yesterday when thousands lined up in downtown D.C. festooned in the red regalia of MAGA nation — or the security and foot traffic from earlier this month for the funeral service of former President Jimmy Carter where Secret Service vehicles could be seen at least a mile from the Cathedral.

The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0.

It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials.

▶ Read more about Marco Rubio’s confirmation

All the living former presidents were there and the outgoing president amicably greeted his successor, who gave a speech about the country’s bright future and who left to the blare of a brass band.

At first glance, President Donald Trump’ssecond inauguration seemed like a continuation of the country’s nearly 250-year-long tradition of peaceful transfers of power, essential to its democracy. And there was much to celebrate: Trump won a free and fair election last fall, and his supporters hope he will be able to fix problems at the border, end the war in Ukraine and get inflation under control.

Still, on Monday, the warning signs were clear.

Due to frigid temperatures, Trump’s swearing-in was held in the Capitol Rotunda, where rioters seeking to keep him in power the last time roamed during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Trump walked into the space from the hall leading to the building’s west front tunnel, where some of the worst hand-to-hand combat between Trump supporters and police occurred that day.

After giving a speech pledging that “never again” would the government “persecute political opponents,” Trump then gave a second, impromptu address to a crowd of supporters. The president lamented that his inaugural address had been sanitized, said he would shortly pardon the Jan. 6 rioters and fumed at last-minute preemptive pardons issued by outgoing President Joe Biden to the members of the congressional committee that investigated the attack.

▶ Read more about Trump’s Inauguration Day

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, as White House staff secretary Will Scharf watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, as White House staff secretary Will Scharf watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks as first lady Melania Trump listens at the Commander in Chief Ball, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks as first lady Melania Trump listens at the Commander in Chief Ball, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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