BILBAO, Spain -- The bodies of some of the 148 victims of an Iberia jetliner crash were returned to their hometowns today for burial, but two t thirds of the dead remained unidentified as experts tried to piece together human parts.
In Madrid, officials began investigating Tuesday's crash amid a national uproar over air safety and responsibility for the third major air disaster in Spain in less than 15 months.
An Iberia spokeswoman said officials reviewed the contents of the two 'black box' flight recorders, but there was no word whether they provided clues to why the Boeing 727 clipped a television tower and crashed into a mountain on its approach to the northern city of Bilbao.
Authorities said forensic experts have positively identified only 49 of the 148 people killed on Iberia's flight 610 from Madrid. The remains of the 49 were confirmed, death certificates issued and the bodies released to relatives for burial.
Relatives began the painful task of shipping bodies home this morning after a funeral mass Wednesday night attended by Queen Sofia and 2,000 mourners at Bilbao's ornate, gold-columned Begona Basilica.
At the city's Garellano military barracks, forensic experts worked to identify the remains of the other victims, piecing together limbs and using dental plates and fingerprints to establish their identities.
'The impact of the plane was brutal and bodies were strewn the length of the path of the crash and caught in the branches of trees,' said Jose Leal, head of the team identifying the bodies.
'Although we are working with maximum speed, much time is needed to complete the identification, probably several months,' he said.
In an adjoining room, relatives and undertakers claimed the polished wooden coffins containing the remains of victims whose identities were established.
Iberia officials said some of the coffins were being flown home for burial, while other relatives made arrangements to have the coffins shipped by road.
On Wednesday evening, families of the dead joined Queen Sofia, officials and friends at the funeral mass at the gold-columned Begona Basilica.
'All men, Christian or not, must work for guarantees and security so these catastrophes do not occur,' Bishop Luis Maria Marrea said at the mass.
In Parliament, the ruling Socialists questioned why the tower was built so close to the airport and whether aviation authorities had been informed.
The conservative opposition coalition, Grupo Popular, accused the Transport Ministry of not maintaining 'a high level of security in aviation.'
The newspaper Diario 16 said: 'The frequent accidents must lead to a revision of pilot qualifications, air control equipment, material, training of controllers and development of airports.'
No explanation has been given for Spain's third major plane crash in 15 months, but Victoriano Martin, director of the aircraft control center near Madrid, said pilot Jose Luis Patino apparently was flying off course.
'The pilot must make a 180-degree turn at a minimum altitude of 4,360 feet and go directly toward the runway,' he said. 'But at that moment he was at an altitude lower than required. You can deduce he was slightly off route -- he hit the mountain.'
Martin speculated the plane's altitude dial could have been set incorrectly by the pilot or by wrong information from the Bilbao control tower.
Iberia confirmed the jet was flying too low but refused further comment. It said the two 'black box' flight recorders recovered from the wreckage will be analyzed with results ready in 'about two months.'
