A spokeswoman for the Brazilian chief investigator has confirmed statements by lead investigator Renato Sayao to local media that Air traffic controllers share some of the blame for September's midair collision over the Amazon that killed 154 people in Brazil's worst air disaster.

This statement by spokeswoman, Tamares Carvalho comes as a surprise since this is the first time Brazilian authorities have said that anyone other than the two U.S. pilots of the executive jet could be held responsible for the crash.

All 157 aboard the Gol Flight 1907 were killed when it crashed into the Amazon rain forest after colliding with the Embraer Legacy.

Spokeswoman Carvalho said she did not know if authorities would pursue criminal charges against the American pilots -- Joseph Lepore, 42, of Bay Shore, New York, and Jan Paladino, 34, of Westhampton Beach, New York. The pilots were detained by Brazilian authorities for 71 days before being released.

Initially, authorities claimed that the pilots should have noticed that their transponder had not been functioning and were responsible for the disaster. The owner of both New York-based ExcelAire and  the Legacy, said in a statement Monday that " the  pilots did not intentionally or inadvertently disengage the Legacy's transponder or TCAS [anti-collision] system and that there was no indication in the cockpit at any time during the flight that the transponder or TCAS system were not operational."

Spokeswoman Carvalho said the air traffic controllers could face up to 12 years in prison on homicide charges and exposing an aircraft to danger because they failed to divert the Boeing after the Legacy disappeared from their radar.