At least 21 bodies had been recovered by Saturday morning local time, the Sao Paulo state Government said, with two victims identified on site. All the bodies are being moved to the Sao Paulo police morgue.
At first, regional carrier Voepass said the plane was carrying 57 passengers and four crew, but the firm later confirmed another unaccounted for passenger was on the flight, putting the number of casualties at 62.
O governador de São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, que estava em reunião com governadores no Espírito Santo, está a caminho de Vinhedo (SP), onde um avião com 62 pessoas a bordo caiu. Em conversa com @AndreiaSadi, Tarcísio informou que irá montar um gabinete de crise conjunto com o… pic.twitter.com/Qe9eEr4O1M
The position of the bodies on the crashed plane, physical characteristics, documents and belongings such as cellphones were being used to aid in identification, firefighter Maycon Cristo said at the crash site.
“Once all this evidence has been collected, we will remove the victims from the wreckage and place them in the vehicle to be transported to Sao Paulo,” he said.
Relatives of the victims have been brought to Sao Paulo to help provide genetic material for DNA identification of body parts and other information on the dead, said Sao Paulo state Government Civil Defence Co-ordinator Henguel Pereira.
The plane, an ATR-72 turboprop, was bound for Sao Paulo from Cascavel, in the state of Parana, and crashed at about 1.30pm local time in the town of Vinhedo, some 80km northwest of Sao Paulo.
Franco-Italian ATR, jointly owned by Airbus and Leonardo, is the dominant producer of regional turboprop planes seating 40 to 70 people. ATR told Reuters that its specialists were “fully engaged” with the investigation into the crash.
Videos shared on social media showed the ATR-72 aircraft spinning out of control as it plunged down behind a cluster of trees near houses, followed by a large plume of black smoke.
