CNN riferisce anche dell'evacuazione di tutte le zone abitate attigue al disastro.
July 17 (Bloomberg) -- A Brazilian passenger plane with about 170 passengers on board crashed and plowed into a fuel station while landing at Sao Paulo's domestic-service airport, the country's airport authority said.
Television images on the Band News channel showed fire fighters trying to contain the blaze, which was visible at least a mile away. The plane was operated by TAM Linhas Aereas SA, the country's biggest airline by passengers carried. There is a `chance' of casualties, the airport authority said.
Brazil's airport authority believes the pilot had trouble coming to a stop, slid off the runway and crossed Washington Luiz Avenue before slamming in the fuel station, Leonardo Mota, a spokesman for the airport authority said in a telephone interview.
The plane had the flight number 3054 and was coming from Porto Alegre, Brazil, Mota said.
Last year, Congonhas airport, which was built in the 1930s and is now the country's busiest airport, handled 18.5 million passengers, about 50 percent more than its official capacity, says Infraero, which owns and operates all of Brazil's commercial airports.