Brazil Finds Bodies of 16 Victims in Rocket Blast

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, August 24, 2003

Brazil Finds Bodies of 16 Victims in Rocket Blast

Rescue workers on Saturday found bodies of 16 of the 21 victims in a rocket explosion at the Alcantara space center in the northeast of Brazil.

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Rescue workers on Saturday found bodies of 16 of the 21 victims in a rocket explosion at the Alcantara space center in the northeast of Brazil.

As the bodies have been badly damaged, they will have to be identified by DNA tests and dental records, reports here said.

Also on Saturday, the Brazilian Aeronautics Command released the names of the 21 specialists who were killed in the explosion.

All of them were civilian specialists of the Aerospace Technical Center, based in the city of Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo state. They were on the launch pad on Friday, three days before the rocket's scheduled liftoff, when the Brazilian-made VLS-1 blew up at the space base in Maranhao state.

Their bodies and fragments spread all over the pad and the remains of 16 victims have been found in the wreckage.

Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Viegas Filho told a press conference on Saturday that the scene of the accident is still dangerous as the left fuel may cause new explosions and the leaning rocket launcher may collapse at any time.

That was why the recovery process is going on slowly and the scene is still cordoned off, the minister said.

The liftoff of the rocket had been scheduled for Monday, with the mission of placing two Brazilian telecommunication satellites into orbit.

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