- Jet crash in São Paulo kills 61 on board
- ATR 72-500 hit residential area; no injuries on ground
- Brazil’s worst aviation disaster since 2007; investigation ongoing
A jet crashed in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, killing all 61 on board.
Voepass Airline said the twin-engine turboprop crashed in Vinhedo while flying from Cascavel in southern Paraná to Guarulhos airport in São Paulo.
A video circulating on social media shows a jet descending vertically and whirling as it falls.
The ATR 72-500 was carrying 57 passengers and four crewmembers. Local authorities claim there were no survivors.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva extended solidarity with the victims’ families and friends.
São Paulo Governor Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas has proclaimed three days of mourning.
The officials stated that the flight recorders had been recovered. The French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR said it will cooperate with the probe.
The plane landed in a residential area, but no one on the ground was hurt.
Officials report that only one property in a nearby condominium complex was damaged.
The video showed a vast area on fire with burning wreckage in a neighborhood of entire houses.
Police and firefighters are on the site.
Flightradar24 reported that the plane left Cascavel at 11:56 local time (14:56 GMT). The final signal from the aircraft came around an hour and a half later.
Brazil’s civil aviation regulator stated that the jet, built in 2010, was “in good operating condition, with valid registration and airworthiness certificates.”
It noted that the four crew members on board at the time of the accident were all properly licensed and qualified.
The Uopeccan Cancer Hospital in Cascavel confirmed that two of its trainee doctors were among the passengers who died.
Local locals witnessed the moment the passenger airliner crashed.
“When I heard the sound of the plane falling, I looked out my window at home and saw the moment it crashed,” Felipe Magalhaes told Reuters, adding that the sight “terrified” him.
Nathalie Cicari, another homeowner, told CNN Brasil that she was eating lunch when she heard a “very loud noise very close by,” which she described as similar to the sound of a drone but considerably louder.
I went out onto the balcony and noticed the plane whirling. Within seconds, I understood it was an unusual movement for an aircraft.
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This is Brazil’s worst aviation catastrophe since 2007, when a TAM Express plane crashed and burned at São Paulo’s Congonhas airport, killing 199 people.
President Lula paid tribute to the victims at a ceremony where he spoke.
He informed his audience that he had to deliver dreadful news, and he would like everyone to rise for a minute of silence.
He said on social media that the crash news was “very sad.” He expressed his full support to the victims’ families and friends.
Local officials say the nearby municipality of Valinhos deployed 20 emergency professionals to the collision site as part of a cooperative operation.
According to a statement from Valinhos City Hall, twenty men were mobilized, including three vehicles from the Valinhos Municipal Civil Guard and one from the Civil Defence.
ATR stated that it had been notified of an ATR 72-500 accident.
It stated that our initial thoughts are with all those affected by this incident.
The ATR professionals are wholly engaged in supporting the investigation and the customer.
