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Rescuers find no survivors in Brazilian plane wreckage

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SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNN) -- Rescuers on Saturday reached the wreckage of a Brazilian airliner that crashed a day earlier in the Amazon's dense rainforest, an official told Brazilian media outlets. There were no survivors.

Jose Carlose Pereira, president of Infraera, the organization governing Brazilian airports, told reporters that none of the 155 people on board Gol Airlines Flight 1907 survived, local media reported.

It is the deadliest air crash in Brazil's history, according to The Associated Press.

After a grueling overnight search, air force pilots spotted pieces of the airliner about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the city of Peixoto de Azevedo, Gol Airlines said.

Brazil's defense minister and airport officials said the plane may have clipped a corporate jet before crashing into the jungle. Brazilian authorities had first believed the planes collided, but then backed off that explanation. (Watch families desperate for news -- 1:20 )

The corporate jet, a Legacy 600 made by Embraer, safely landed in Cachimbo. Its pilot reported seeing, "out of nowhere, a large shadow" passing his plane, clipping his wing, and forcing an emergency landing, said Defense Minister Waldir Pires.

Embraer said it would cooperate in the investigation and offered sympathy to victims' families.

Gol Airlines Flight 1907 was traveling at nearly 500 kph (310 mph) when it slammed into the ground, Pereira said, according to AP.

"When one cannot find the fuselage relatively intact and when the wreckage is concentrated in a relatively small area, the chances of finding any survivors are practically nonexistent," AP quoted Pereira as saying.

Helicopters lowered emergency crews by rope, so they could cut down trees for access to the site, Pereira said, according to AP.

The plane was heading from Manaus to Brasilia, and was set to land at 6:12 p.m. (5:12 p.m. ET) Friday before going on to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, a spokesman for Brazilian civil aviation said.

It was last heard from at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), officials said.

The plane disappeared from radar screens while over military-controlled airspace, the civil aviation spokesman said.

The aircraft was new, with only 200 hours of flying time, and had just been received from the manufacturer on September 12, a Gol statement said.

Gol is the fastest-growing airline in South America and was launched in January 2001 as the first low-fare airline in Brazil.

The site of the crash is in the same region where Varig Flight 254 crashed in September 1989. Thirteen people died in that crash; 42 survived.

Until Saturday, Brazil's worst air accident was the crash of a Vasp 727 in the northeastern city of Fortaleza in 1982, which killed 137 people, AP reported.

CNNRadio's Raul Bali and journalist Tom Hennigan contributed to this report.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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