SAO PAULO (AP) — Families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil are gathering Sunday at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as forensics experts work to identify the remains of the 62 people killed in the accident.

Local authorities said the bodies of the pilot, Danilo Santos Romano, and his co-pilot, Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, were the first to be identified by forensics experts.

Sao Paulo state government said in a statement Saturday evening that the remains of all the victims had been recovered. There were 34 male and 28 female bodies in the wreckage, it said.

The ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop operated by Brazilian airline Voepass was headed for Guarulhos international airport in Sao Paulo with 58 passengers and four crew members when it went down Friday in Vinhedo, 78 kilometers (49 miles) north of the metropolis. Voepass said three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese.

At least eight physicians were aboard, Paraná state Gov. Ratinho Júnior said. Four professors at Unioeste university in western Paraná were also confirmed dead.

Three-year-old Liz Ibba dos Santos, who was travelling with her father, was the only child known to be on passenger list. The remains of Luna, a dog that was traveling with a Venezuelan family, was found in the wreckage.

Sao Paulo’s morgue began receiving the bodies Friday evening, and it asked victims’ relatives to bring in medical, X-ray and dental records to help identify the bodies. Blood tests were also done to help identification efforts.

The few family members speaking about the tragedy did so on social media.

Tânia Azevedo, who lost her son Tiago in the crash, was put up in one of the hotels in Sao Paulo, but said in a posting that she was waiting to go to the morgue.

“I believe Tiago is somewhere trying to help the other people wounded who also need light and love,” she said. “I couldn’t go there (to the morgue). I am here waiting. It is dark here, I need some light and love myself.”

Images recorded by witnesses showed the aircraft in a flat spin and plunging vertically before smashing to the ground inside a gated community, and leaving an obliterated fuselage consumed by fire. Residents said there were no injuries on the ground.

It was the world’s deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that stalled and crashed while making its landing approach. That plane also was an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.

Metsul, one of Brazil’s most respected meteorological companies, said Friday there were reports of severe icing in Sao Paulo state around the time of the crash. Local media cited experts pointing to icing as a potential cause for the accident.

A video shared on social media channels Saturday shows a Voepass pilot telling passengers of a flight from Guarulhos to the city of Cascavel, the same origin of the crashed plane, that the ATR 72 has flown safely around the world for decades. He also asked passengers to be respectful to the memory of his colleagues and the company and asked for prayers.

“This tragedy doesn’t hit only those who perished in this accident. It hits all of us,” the unidentified pilot said. “We are giving all our hearts, all our best to be here and fulfill our mission to take you safely and comfortably to your destination.”

Police restricted access to the main entrance of the Sao Paulo morgue where bodies from the crash were being identified. Some family members of the victims arrived on foot, others came in minivans. None spoke to journalists, and authorities requested that they not be filmed as they came.

A flight carrying more family members from Paraná state landed Saturday afternoon at Guarulhos airport, and they also chose not to speak to journalists. A minivan sponsored by the airline was provided to transport them to the morgue.

Many family members were gathering at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo, and declining to speak to media there, too.

An American Eagle ATR 72-200 crashed on Oct. 31, 1994, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause was ice buildup while the plane was circling in a holding pattern. The plane rolled at about 8,000 feet and dove into the ground, killing all 68 people on board. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued operating procedures for ATRs and similar planes telling pilots not to use the autopilot in icing conditions.

Brazilian aviation expert Lito Sousa cautioned that meteorological conditions alone might not be enough to explain why the Voepass plane fell in the manner it did Friday.

“Analyzing an air crash just with images can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Sousa told The Associated Press by phone. “But we can see a plane with loss of support, no horizontal speed. In this flat spin condition, there’s no way to reclaim control of the plane.”

Brazil’s air force said Saturday that both of the plane’s flight recorders had been sent to its analysis laboratory in the capital, Brasilia. The results of its investigations are expected to be published within 30 days, it said.

Marcelo Moura, director of operations for Voepass, told reporters Friday night that while there were forecasts for ice, they were within acceptable levels for the aircraft.

In an earlier statement, the Brazilian air force’s center for the investigation and prevention of air accidents said the plane’s pilots did not call for help or say they were operating under adverse weather conditions.

The ATR 72, which is built by a joint venture of Airbus in France and Italy’s Leonardo SpA. is generally used on shorter flights. Crashes involving various models of the ATR 72 have resulted in 470 deaths going back to the 1990s, according to a database of the Aviation Safety Network.

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Pollastri reported from Vinhedo.

The United States have won their eighth consecutive Olympic women’s 4×400-metre relay crown to clinch the country’s 14th track and field gold medal of the Paris Games.

A star-studded USA quartet, which included two-time Olympic 400-metre hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and 200-metres gold medallist Gabby Thomas, powered home in 3 minutes and 15.27 seconds on Saturday.

The Netherlands took silver in 3:19.50 with Great Britain grabbing bronze in 3:19.72.

“The US just has so much depth,” McLaughlin-Levrone said after the win. “Every woman from the trials to the final was going to do their job.

“I’m grateful that we were all able to do that and come out with a gold medal.”

And in the men’s 4×400 metres relay final, the USA came out on top again but only just, as Rai Benjamin held off Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in a thrilling last-leg battle between two individual gold medallists, with Britain taking bronze.

The USA dropped Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old who struggled badly in the heats, but did not bring in individual 400-metre champion Quincy Hall, instead adding 400m hurdles champion Benjamin to run the final leg.

Chris Bailey took them out but handed over in third to Vernon Norwood, who ran a stormer in the heats and repeated it in the final to send Bryce Deadmon off in the lead.

Botswana’s Anthony Pesela, however, closed the gap to set up a dramatic finale.

Tebogo, the 200-metre champion who was drafted in at the last minute to run the first leg for Botswana in the heats on Friday, sat on Benjamin’s shoulder and looked poised to pass him entering the final straight.

Benjamin’s one-lap speed endurance showed, however, as he held him off to win in an Olympic record of 2:54.43.

Botswana, bronze medallists in Tokyo, took silver in an African record 2:54.53 with Britain taking bronze in a European record 2:55.83.

Kerr wins jump-off to bag gold

In the field events, Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim won bronze in the men’s high jump final, losing the gold he won in Tokyo four years ago to Hamish Kerr of New Zealand.

Kerr said he was “in shock” after a rare athletics gold for his country.

He tasted glory after a dramatic jump-off with American Shelby McEwen.

Both men managed bests of 2.36 metres in regular competition, but could not be separated on the countback of missed jumps.

They opted for a jump-off, Kerr clearing 2.34 metres when the American failed after the bar was lowered from 2.38 to 2.36 metres.

“I was just in shock. Both me and Shelby were getting a little bit tired after all the jumps we took,” said Kerr.

“I knew I had a good one in me and I knew that if I could get it up sooner rather than later, then I could just finish the comp and start recovering.”

There was a hint of deja vu at the Stade de France as Barshim had shared Olympic gold with Italian Gianmarco Tamberi in the COVID-hit Tokyo Games three years ago.

“That has such a special place in history for high jumps,” Kerr said.

“To have an exact same scenario this time around, but to choose to do the jump-off, was putting at peace some of those people who wanted to jump off, so we’re both really happy to add to that history.”

The discussion Kerr and McEwen shared with officials was short and to the point. Both athletes wanted to continue and there was to be no shared gold.

“We’re good buddies, good opponents and good jumpers when we jump together,” McEwen said of Kerr.

“He said he wanted to face off and I was all for it.

Barshim had a best of 2.34 metres, but Tamberi – struggling with kidney stones – had a night to forget, finishing 11th in the 12-strong field with a best jump of 2.22 metres.

It was a fourth medal at a fourth Olympics for Barshim, but the Qatari insisted he would not be competing in Los Angeles in 2028.

“You will see me with popcorn, a few more kilograms and watching the guys. This is my last Olympics for sure,” said the 33-year-old three-time world champion who won Olympic silvers in 2012 and 2016.

His four medals, he added, were “the legacy I want to leave behind. I have so much to give, maybe now it’s my time to give to the next generation and hopefully, you’ll see the next champion”.

Russell beats home favourite in 100m hurdles

Earlier in the day, American Masai Russell produced a stunning run to win the Olympic 100-metre hurdles title in a blanket finish, edging out the home hope Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Tokyo champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.

Russell clocked 12.33 seconds as French President Emmanuel Macron watched Samba-Mayela (12.34) deliver France’s first track medal of the Paris Games with silver. Puerto Rico’s Camacho-Quinn (12.36) took bronze.

“I knew from the beginning I was a little hesitant when the gun went off,” Russell said.