A second major air disaster in ten months has left Brazilians stunned and brought into question the ability of the authorities to manage the country’s increasingly overstretched and crisis-stricken aviation network.

In the latest accident — the worst in Brazil’s aviation history — a TAM Airbus 320 passenger jet carrying 186 people from the southern city of Porto Alegre failed to brake on landing on Tuesday night during heavy rain at Congonhas airport.

The aircraft veered left before flying off the steep bank that separated the runway from a multi-lane highway below. Witnesses said that the pilots tried to take off again but the plane crashed into a building and exploded beside a Shell petrol station. Authorities fear that more than 200 people may have died.

Yesterday rescuers were still trying to confirm how many people were in the building — a TAM cargo depot — as well as the surrounding area when it was hit. Flames engulfed the site and people tried to jump from the building. Firefighters said that the temperature in the aircraft during the blaze would have reached 1,000C (1,832F), making identification of the victims difficult.

Investigators will focus on the state of the runway, which had just reopened after repairs. It had been shut for 45 days to resolve the problem of water collecting on the surface, which forced the postponement or diversion of flights during heavy rain.

Authorities said that for technical reasons the adding of grooves to the runway surface could be done only at the end of the month, but emphasised that it was still safe for use. On Monday a smaller passenger jet skidded off the runway in similar conditions, though no one was hurt.

Marco Antonio Bologna, the president of TAM, said yesterday that it was premature to blame the runway. He claimed that planes could tolerate up to 3mm of water on a runway without grooves, and that initial reports suggested that there was less than that amount on the runway.

Airport authorities said that video footage of the landing showed that the plane may have been travelling too fast on landing.

Crews have long criticised Congonhas airport, saying that its short runway made landing in wet conditions risky. Aviation safety experts say that such city airports, hemmed in by buildings, leave little room for error and risk, exacerbating accidents when they happen.

Despite the criticism Congonhas is by far Brazil’s busiest hub. Airlines have pushed for more slots there as passengers prefer it because it is near the city centre and financial districts, as opposed to the more distant airport on the city’s northern edge.

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