16 die as rocket explodes in Brazil

At least 16 people were killed today when a rocket exploded on its launch pad while undergoing final pre-launch tests, Brazilian military officials said.

At least 20 others were injured.

The blast at the remote base in north-eastern Brazil killed mostly civilian technicians and destroyed two research satellites, Defence Minster Jose Veigas Filho said.

“The launching pad collapsed and the technicians were working there, so everything indicates they died,” Veigas said. “There is no hope that there were survivors.”

At least 20 people were injured by the blast – most were flown to a hospital in neighbouring Sao Luis de Maranhao, he said.

Globo television showed footage of a plume of smoke rising high into the sky over the seaside Alcantara Launch Centre, 1,457 miles north of Sao Paulo.

Authorities were still trying to account for everyone at the launch site, and the number of dead could rise, Veigas said.

The explosion occurred after one of the four main motors of the rocket was ignited for reasons still unknown, he said.

The VLS-3 rocket was scheduled to be launched next week with the two satellites.

The blast came as technicians were putting the finishing touches on a rocket that would make Brazil the first Latin American nation to put a satellite in space on its own.

“We had just done two days of tests and everything went well – 100 percent. Everybody is devastated,” said Air Force Colonel Romeo Brasileiro.

The air force said in a statement there was no damage outside the launching area.

It was Brazil’s third attempt to send a satellite into space on its own rocket.

A rocket launched in November 1997 crashed in the Atlantic Ocean after suffering engine problems shortly after blast off.

In December 1999, another Brazilian rocket developed problems and failed three minutes after take-off. Officials remotely destroyed the rocket.

Brazil has operated a scientific space programme since the early 1970s and sent its first satellite into space in 1993 on board a US Pegasus rocket.

The country’s space program centres on gravity research, meteorology, telecommunications and environmental research.