VINHEDO, Brazil >> Brazilian rescue teams Saturday retrieved the remains of all 62 passengers from the wreckage of a plane crash in Sao Paulo state as families started gathering in the metropolis to identify and bury their loved ones.

Local airline Voepass’ plane, an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, was headed for Sao Paulo’s international airport in Guarulhos with 58 passengers and four crew members, when it went down in the city of Vinhedo.

Initially, the company said its plane had 62 passengers, then it revised the number to 61 and early on Saturday it raised the figure once again after it found a passenger named Constantino Thé Maia was not on its original list.

Voepass also said three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese.

Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that rescue operations finished at 6:30 p.m. local time, with the identification of the bodies of the pilot and co-pilot by forensics experts.

There were 34 male and 28 female bodies in the wreckage, the government said.

Earlier, Maycon Cristo, a spokesman for the local fire department, told journalists in Vinhedo that a winch was used to remove parts of the plane from the ground.

Brazilian authorities began transferring the corpses to the morgue Friday, and called on victims’ family members to bring any medical, X-ray and dental exams to help identify the bodies. Blood tests were also done to help identification efforts.

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.

Rain drizzled down on rescue workers as they recovered the first bodies from the scene in the chill of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. Some residents of the gated community silently left to spend the night elsewhere. None were spotted returning on Saturday.

It was the world’s deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on board 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 renowned 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 crash.

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.

“It was a fatality. The pilot was my personal friend. I have known all the crew from long ago,” the unidentified pilot said. “We are professionals, we have our families. This tragedy doesn’t hit only those who perished in this accident. It hits all of us. 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.”

Local police restricted access to the main entrance of one of Sao Paulo’s morgues, where bodies from the crash were being identified. Some family members of the victims arrived on foot, others came in minivans. They didn’t speak to journalists, and local authorities requested they not be filmed as they came.