Rescue efforts at the site of Brazil's deadliest plane crash were hampered Thursday by the risk of a building that the craft struck collapsing, authorities said, according to dpa. The fire brigade also confirmed that 180 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage. More than 30 hours after Tuesday night's accident claimed the lives of an estimated 200 people, a freight deposit hit by the plane still threatened to go up in flames. Some 60 firemen were working to remove the wreckage of the TAM Express deposit, under which remain an undetermined number of people. The plane coming in from Porto Alegre skidded off a wet runway Tuesday, glided across one of the busiest highways in the metropolis and rammed into three nearby buildings, setting off a huge blaze. There were 186 on board the Brazilian TAM airliner and an untold number of people working at the deposit and petrol station struck by the aircraft, both of which also caught fire. An investigation ordered by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva continued at the site of the accident. Lula ordered federal police to determine the state of the main runway at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo. The police investigation intends to determine whether public or private organizations can be held accountable for re-opening the newly resurfaced runway on June 29, before it was fully safe. Despite the resurfacing, the runway still lacked slashes - known as grooving - meant to facilitate drainage on rainy days and increase the grip of planes at landing to avoid skidding, the president of state airport operator Infraero, Jose Carlos Pereira, said on re- opening. The pending work was scheduled to be undertaken in August. Brazil's attorney general late Wednesday took formal steps to close the controversial Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo. All take-offs and landings should be grounded until "impeccable security measures are in place and confirmed, and until all doubts are removed," according to a legal application made public in Brasilia. The airport was closed Tuesday night, but open again Wednesday for smaller planes. Many pilots and navigators had already complained before the accident that the main airstrip was "very dangerous" and slippery when it rains - "as slippery as soap," the navigators association said.
