A plane crashed yesterday Friday in the state of Sao Paulo, in the southeast of Brazil, as a result of which all 61 people on board lost their lives, without the reason that it suffered a loss of support and began spinning until it landed in a residential area.
The aircraft, built by Franco-Italian ATR, was carrying “57 passengers” and had “four crew members”, according to carrier Voepass.
It was flying from Cascavel, in the state of Parana (south) to Guarulius International Airport, in Sao Paulo. After a sudden loss of altitude, it crashed at 13:25 (local time; 19:25 Cyprus time) in Vinientou, a community of 76,000 people, about 80 kilometers northwest of the city of Sao Paulo, causing terror among residents.
“There are no survivors,” the municipality of Valinius, which was involved in the rescue operation in the neighboring city of Vientiane, told AFP via email.
Breaking footage broadcast by Brazilian media shows the plane losing altitude with high speed, continuing to spin out of control, then a column of thick smoke from where it crashed into the neighborhood — where no casualties were reported on the ground.
An investigation has begun by Brazil's Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA) to determine the cause of the crash.
heartbreaking footage shows the moment passenger plane carrying 62 goes down in vinhedo, brazilpic.twitter.com/SmpSGvmsyW
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) August 9, 2024
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared three days of national mourning after the “tragic accident”.
Truck driver Martins Barbosa was at work when he heard the plane had crashed 150 meters from his home. “I was afraid it had crashed into my house, my son was home,” he told AFP, describing the “desperation” he felt until he learned his child was fine.
“It was scary, I saw a plane spin and fall. God saved us, if it was any closer, (the plane) would have crashed into my house. I'm in a state of shock, I don't stop shaking,” Vigneto resident Edna Barbosa told SBT TV.
Another resident, Hicardu Hodrigez, told Band News TV that he saw “a lot of bodies on the ground, many…' at the scene of the tragedy.
According to the Brazilian air force, the flight “was proceeding smoothly until 13:20” (local time; 19:20 Greek time). But a minute later, the aircraft stopped “answering calls” from the control tower and the crew “did not state that it was in an emergency or encountered adverse weather conditions.”
“The loss of contact detected by radar at 13:22,” the air force added.
The aircraft was an ATR72-500. Its manufacturer, a subsidiary of Airbus and Italy's Leonardo, emphasized in a statement that its experts will support “the ongoing investigation”.
The so-called black box has been located and is expected to be analyzed.
< p>The gendarmerie announced that the fire due to the crash of the aircraft was brought under control. Firefighting, civil protection and air force units were deployed to the scene.
The recovery of the victims' remains for their “identification” has begun and was expected to “continue throughout the night,” Sao Paulo state governor Tarquisio ji Freitas, who rushed to the scene, told the press.
The bodies were to be taken to the main mortuary in Sao Paulo, Brazil's financial capital.
Voepass clarified that it “does not yet have confirmed information on the circumstances of the accident”.
< p>According to Brazil's civil aviation authority, the aircraft complied with all applicable regulations.
The first flight of this aircraft, manufactured in France, took place in April 2010, according to an entry on the specialized website planespotters.net.
According to CENIPA data, excluding yesterday's accident, from at the beginning of the year in Brazil, 108 air accidents and crashes were recorded with a total of 49 deaths.
In the last ten years, 746 human lives were lost in 1,665 accidents and crashes in the Latin American country of gigantic proportions.
In 2007, Brazilian airline TAM's Airbus A320 skidded off the runway after landing at Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport and crashed into a cargo warehouse, killing all 187 people on board and 12 others on the ground.
And, two years later, an Air France Airbus A330-230, flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, disappeared over the Atlantic with 228 people on board, in an area known to experience turbulence.< /p>
