Firefighters arrive at the entrance to the Recanto Florido apartment after a plane carrying 62 people crashed in Vinedo, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on August 9, 2024.
Nelson Almeida | AFP | Getty Images
A passenger plane carrying 61 people crashed into a gated residential area in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state on Friday, killing everyone on board and leaving the wreckage still smoking, officials and airlines said.
Officials did not immediately say where the crash occurred in the city of Vignedo, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo, but witnesses at the scene said there were no casualties among nearby residents.
VOEPASS Airlines said the ATR 72-500 twin-engine turboprop aircraft crashed in Vinedo on its way to Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo with 57 passengers and four crew members on board. A previous statement said there were 58 passengers on board.
“The company regrets to inform you that all 61 passengers on Flight 2283 died at the scene,” VOEPASS said in a statement. “Currently, VOEPASS is prioritizing unrestricted assistance to the families of the victims and cooperating effectively with the authorities to identify The cause of the accident.”
Sharing the news at an event in southern Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked the crowd to stand and observe a minute of silence.
The state’s firefighters, military police and civil protection sent teams to the scene. São Paulo Public Security Minister Guillerme de Riet confirmed to reporters that no survivors had been found. He also said the plane’s black box had been found and was apparently intact.
“I thought it was going to fall in our yard,” a resident and witness, who gave only her first name, Ana Lucia, told reporters near the accident site. “It was horrific, but thankfully there were no victims among the locals. However, it appears that the 62 people inside the plane were the real victims.”
The light ATR-72-500 aircraft, carrying 58 passengers and four crew members, crashed near Capella in Vignedo.
Muhammad Ali Yigit | Anatolia | Getty Images
Video obtained by The Associated Press and verified by bystanders showed at least two bodies scattered among the burning wreckage.
Brazilian television network GloboNews showed aerial footage of smoke billowing from the fuselage of a destroyed plane. More footage released earlier by Global News showed the plane drifting downward in a horizontal spin.
Flightradar24 said data sent by the plane showed it dived at speeds between 8,000 and 24,000 feet per minute in the final 60 seconds of the flight.
A bird’s-eye view of the wreckage of a plane carrying 61 people that crashed in Vignedo, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on August 9, 2024.
Miguel Zincario | AFP | Getty Images
The Brazilian Air Force’s Air Accident Investigation and Prevention Center said in a statement that the pilots did not respond to calls from São Paulo air traffic control, did not seek help or indicated that they were flying in adverse weather conditions.
Brazil’s federal police said in a separate statement that it had opened an investigation and was sending experts in plane crash and disaster victim identification to assist.
VOEPASS staff at Guarulhos Airport told The Associated Press that the company was notifying the victims’ families and providing support to them in private rooms at the airport.
The plane’s manufacturer, French-Italian ATR, said in a statement that it was aware of the accident involving an ATR 72-500, adding that company experts “are fully supporting the investigation and the customer.”
ATR 72 is usually used for shorter flights. The planes are built by a joint venture between France’s Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo SpA.
In January 2023, a Yeti Airlines ATR 72-500 crashed, killing 72 people. The cause was human error, with both propellers accidentally positioned in a feathered position.
The community of Capella where Friday’s plane crashed is located far from the center of this bustling city of 77,000 residents. It departs from Cascahuel in the state of Paraná.
AP video reporter Tatiana Pollastri contributed from Vinhedo. Associated Press writer David Koenig contributed from Dallas.
