Brazil 61 dead after plane crashes in residential area
A plane with 61 people on board has crashed in a residential area of the city of Vinhedo in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.
09.08.2024, 23:14
SDA
No occupants survived the crash early on Friday afternoon (local time), as the city administration told the German press agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur. According to airline VoePass, 57 passengers and four crew members were on board. Initially, the airline had stated 58 passengers and corrected this after a few hours.
The plane was en route from the city of Cascavel in the state of Paraná to Guarulhos in São Paulo. São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport is the largest airport in Brazil. Only around 19 months ago, dozens of people were also killed when the same type of plane crashed in Nepal.
At an event in the south of the country, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked those present to observe a minute's silence. "Very sad news. All my condolences to the families and friends of the victims," Lula said on the X platform.
Plane crashes into a property in a residential complex
The news portal "G1" reported, citing authorities in Vinhedo, that the plane crashed in a housing estate near a house where residents were staying. However, no one on the ground was injured.
A resident who took a video of the burning plane said on UOL television: "I have never heard such a loud bang in my life."
According to the fire department, rescue teams are on the scene. Hospitals in Vinhedo were on special standby. In addition to the fire department, civil defense and the police were also deployed, reported "G1".
Pictures and videos on social media showed an aircraft spinning and falling from the sky. Dense smoke then rose. Data from the Flightradar 24 platform suggests that the plane dropped almost 4,000 meters in less than a minute.
The Governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, said: "My solidarity goes out to all the victims and those affected by this tragedy." He promised all necessary support.
Cause of the crash still to be determined
Nothing can yet be said about the cause of the crash, the airline VoePass announced in an initial Instagram post about the accident. The federal police have launched an investigation into the accident. The police set up a kind of crisis team at the home of a resident of the closed residential complex where the tragedy occurred, as reported by "G1".
According to the news portal "UOL", the accident is one of the deadliest in the history of Brazilian aviation.
Many people remember a crash on November 28, 2016, when the plane of Brazilian football club Chapecoense crashed on its way to Medellín for the first leg of the final of the Copa Sudamericana, the South American Cup, in Colombia. At the time, 71 people died, including almost all the players, coaches, trainers and journalists traveling with them. Six passengers survived.
The plane involved in Friday's accident was an ATR 72 turboprop passenger aircraft, a shoulder-wing model built by the French-Italian consortium Avions de Transport Régional. In January 2023, 72 passengers, including four crew members, died in the crash of an ATR 72-500 that was on approach to Pakhora International Airport in Nepal.
