All 62 passengers aboard the regional turboprop plane, which crashed near Sao Paulo in Brazil on Friday, were killed, according to the news agency Reuters. Citing officials at Valinhos– — who were involved in the rescue and recovery operation in the neighbouring town of Vinhedo — the report said there were no survivors in the plane crash.
However, the report said that only one home in the local condominium complex had been damaged while none of the residents were hurt.
“I have to be the bearer of really bad news,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said while speaking at an event shortly after the crash. He asked people to observe a minute of silence for the victims of the crash.
The ATR-72 aircraft, operated by Voepass Linhas Aéreas, was en route from Cascavel in Paraná to Guarulhos in São Paulo, when it crashed in the town of Vinhedo, about 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo. As per the Reuters report, the aircraft was listed by flight tracker FlightRadar24 as an ATR 72-500 turboprop.
Video shared on social media showed what appeared to be the ATR-made plane spinning out of control as it plunged down behind a cluster of trees near houses, followed by a large plume of black smoke.
BREAKING: Passenger plane falls out of the sky in Sao Paulo, Brazil according to local media.
At the moment, it is not clear how many people were on board but the plane has the capacity to carry dozens of people.
The local fire department confirmed the plane fell in the city of… pic.twitter.com/BOlD34eCcj
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 9, 2024
The local firefighters confirmed that the crash occurred in the city of Vinhedo but did not provide further details.
The unlisted airline also said it could not provide further information on what caused the plane, which had a PS-VPB registration, to crash.
Just minutes after the apparent accident, Sao Paulo’s state fire brigade said it was rushing seven crews to the scene of the crash.
ATR, which is jointly owned by Airbus and the Italian aerospace group Leonardo, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
