A fuel station burns after a Brazilian passenger plane crashed at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, July 17, 2007. [Reuters]

The terminal at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport echoed with the shock and sorrow of survivors and relatives of the dead.

By midday, firefighters had pulled 128 charred bodies from the Airbus A320 that was carrying 186 people when it skidded off a rain-soaked runway late on Tuesday and slammed into a gas station and cargo terminal just beyond the airport.

Three other victims were rushed to hospital but then died, raising the official toll to 131. State officials said they did not expect any survivors from the flight operated by Brazil's No. 1 carrier, TAM Linhas Aereas.

The death toll could reach 200, counting casualties on the ground, one fire chief told local media.

The airport reopened on Wednesday, using an alternate runway. But the mood was somber and some travelers were reluctant to fly.

"A plane just crashed, it's hard not to be scared," said Jose Lenza, a civil servant who decided to drive back home to Brasilia instead of flying.

Rescue teams recovered the cockpit recorder from the wreckage, which was still spewing black smoke. The site was cordoned off and bodies were taken quickly to the morgue.

SECOND DISASTER

The crash was the second major air disaster in Brazil in less than a year. In September, 154 people were killed when a Brazilian Boeing 737 clipped wings with a private jet and crashed in the Amazon jungle.

That accident thrust Brazil's aviation system into disarray as air traffic controllers, feeling they were being blamed for the disaster, went on strike to protest poor pay and what they called unreliable radar and radio coverage.

Tuesday's crash highlighted long-standing safety concerns about Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, known for slippery runways and a symbol of the country's chaotic air transport system.

The TAM plane was trying to land on a runway that was repaved in June after officials tried to ban wide-bodied jets from the airport over fears they could skid off its short landing strips.

Brazil's airport authority said the runway still had not been grooved to drain water during heavy rains, prompting accusations that the government brushed aside safety concerns in its zeal to reopen the landing strip.

"It was a pre-announced tragedy, an accident in waiting," said Sandra Assali, president of the Brazilian association of friends and relatives of air crash victims.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, criticized for not doing enough to address the nation's aviation woes, ordered federal police to investigate whether the runway was reopened prematurely.

In Brasilia, the capital, opposition leaders demanded the resignation of top aviation authorities and the defense minister, who oversees civil air travel. The opposition accused the authorities of negligence for allowing the runway to be used after dark in the rain.

"Reopening a runway that was not ready is tantamount to murder," Onyx Lorenzoni, a congressman from a leading opposition party, told Reuters. "They should go to prison."

A congressional inquiry is already investigating aviation security and accusations that directors at the national airport authority took bribes from contractors.