Authorities have found the black box at the crash site in Brazil, according to the Security Secretary from São Paulo Guilherme Derrite.
The black box holds crucial data that will help investigators understand what caused the plane to crash.
A medical team is onsite and working to identify the victims, he said at a news conference, but many of the victims’ remains are too badly burned for visual identification.
Officials are in the process of contacting family members of the passengers, according to Derrite. Authorities will release the names of the passengers soon, he said.
Valinhos City Communications Director Ana Cândida Briski told CNN earlier that the 62 people who were on board the plane are dead.
Meanwhile, a man who missed the flight told Brazilian news outlet Globo that at least 10 people were waiting at the wrong gate and missed the flight before it took off.
“They said to me, ‘Mister, you’re not getting on this plane because we’re already past the boarding limit.’ I even pressured them a little. ‘Mister, put me on this plane, I have to go,’ then he said, ‘There’s no way, what I can do is rebook your ticket,’” the man told Globo.
When they realized they were at the wrong gate, the passengers begged the airport employees to board the plane but were told they could not.
