Search Ongoing for Cash in Brazil Crash

Search Ongoing for Cash in Brazil Crash
By Associated Press
Thu Mar 15, 10:23 PM

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Police on Thursday recovered a small part of the fortune in cash that disappeared from a small plane after it crashed in northeastern Brazil, according to news reports.

The twin-engine plane was carrying $2.6 million worth of Brazilian reals when it crashed Wednesday afternoon near the city of Salvador, some 750 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro in Bahia state, killing all four people aboard, officials said.

Police say they suspect locals made off with the bags of cash before rescuers arrived on the scene.

But on Thursday, according to the Web sites of O Globo and Estado de S. Paulo newspapers, a farm worker was found with a bag containing about $51,000, while some $38,000 was dug up in the back yard of a home.

The Web sites did not give further details, and Bahia state police would neither confirm nor deny the report.

The plane was an air taxi rented by a private security company to transport the money from the city of Petrolina to Salvador some 280 miles to the north. Authorities were investigating the cause of the crash.

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