The passenger plane carrying 61 people crashed near São Paulo on Friday afternoon, claiming the lives of everyone on board, according to Voepass Airlines.
The plane was on its way from Cascavel in Paraná state to Guarulhos in São Paulo when it crashed in a residential area about 76 kilometres from the state capital. The ATR 72-500, a twin-engine turboprop aircraft, plummeted to 17,000 feet in just one minute, but details remain unknown for now, CNN reported. Videos on social media show the plane flying out of the sky before hitting the ground.
“The company regrets to inform that all 61 people on board flight 2283 died at the scene. At this time, Voepass is prioritizing provision of unrestricted assistance to the victims’ families and effectively collaborating with authorities to determine the causes of the accident,” Voepass said in a statement.
Colonel Emerson Massera of Brazil’s military police confirmed to reporters at the crash site in the city of Vinhedo late Thursday night that there were no survivors on board. He also said the fire was under control but about 50 firefighters were still working to cool the area.
Brazil’s air force and federal police sent teams of investigators to the site. Brigadier Marcelo Moreno, head of the Air Force’s Centre for Air Accident Investigation and Prevention, said there was no timeline for completing the investigation.
Voepass CEO Eduardo Busch said at a news conference that there is no information yet on what caused the crash. He said: “The entire crew was competent. We are waiting for access to all communications between the pilot and the control tower to have a broader understanding of what happened. On one hand, it is possible to retrieve data from the recorder, but on the other hand, there is a chance that, due to the severity of the accident, the recorders were damaged, making it impossible to access the recorded data.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a moment of silence to mark the apparent loss of life of the passengers and crew of the flight. In his video, he said the following: “I would like everyone to stand up so that we can observe a minute of silence because a plane has just crashed in the city of Vinhedo… and it appears they all died.”
