Bodies of all 10 Uruguay plane crash victims located

The dead bodies of all 10 occupants of a small chartered plane that crashed in southeastern Uruguay have been found, officials told Efe.

The bodies, badly burned in a fire that erupted when the plane crashed into a lagoon, were photographed to register their position and then removed from the wreckage for identification by experts.

"It has been difficult to recognize some bodies and the judge ordered a thorough autopsy based on DNA analysis, and therefore identifying them is going to take several hours," the Maldonado provincial government said.

Nine Argentines and a Portuguese woman died in Thursday night's crash, which occurred shortly after the Buenos Aires-bound plane took off from the airport serving the resort city of Punta del Este.

The passengers worked for an Argentine company and were part of the management team for a planned convention center in Punta del Este, Uruguay's main tourist destination.

Arrangements are currently being made to receive the victims' family members.

The plane, traveling from Punta del Este in Uruguay to Argentina with eight passengers and two crewmen aboard, crashed in a nearby lagoon Thursday shortly after take-off, according to the information provided by the airport.

Personnel who had reached the crash site were maintaining a safe distance from the plane due to the high temperatures inside its fuselage and the combustible liquid that had spilled around it.

Rescue efforts during the night have been hampered by the lack of light and the characteristics of the terrain where the accident took place.

One of the travelers was a Portuguese woman, Palomeque confirmed.

According to local media reports, the plane's passengers were employees of an Argentine company working on a construction project in Punta de Este.

A total of 30 people are involved in the rescue operation including a team of firefighters, an air force helicopter and personnel from the Curbelo naval base that provided boats to reach the plane crash site.

Saturday 21 March 2015

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