35 Are Feared Dead in Azores Crash

A passenger plane flying through thick fog slammed into a mountain Saturday in Portugal’s Azores Islands. Officials said there was little hope of finding any of the 35 people aboard alive.

Rescue teams reached the wreckage more than four hours after the ATP turboprop plane crashed on Sao Jorge Island, scattering debris and bodies across a densely forested ravine.

The search was called off at dusk and was to be resumed today. An investigation team was sent to the isolated crash site from mainland Portugal.

“Our aim now is to collect the bodies, and then we will examine the causes of the accident,” said Fernando Gomes, Portugal’s internal affairs minister. “There’s no more hope of finding survivors.”

SATA airline said it would reveal the identities of the 31 passengers and four crew members only after their families had been contacted.

A spokeswoman for the airline said she was not aware of any foreign victims.

Seven bodies were recovered as rescuers using ropes and carrying stretchers scrambled over the steep, rugged mountainside, combing the area before nightfall.

Jose Joaquim, a rescue official, told TSF radio it is unlikely survivors would be found.

Thick mist shrouded the area, which was inaccessible to vehicles, TSF reported.

The 64-seat, twin-engine aircraft was on a local inter-island flight when it crashed.

No emergency call was received from the aircraft before it went down. The pilot apparently had taken an alternative course to avoid bad weather on his planned route.

The Azores, a nine-island group, lie about 740 miles west of Portugal.

Sao Jorge is 35 miles long and five miles wide, and is sparsely inhabited. The mountain range where the plane came down has steep slopes rising more than 3,300 feet.