A plane carrying 58 passengers and four crew members crashed in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state on Friday, resulting in the loss of all lives on board, according to local officials.
The aircraft, a French-made ATR 72-500 operated by the airline Voepass, was en route from Cascavel in the southern state of Parana to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport when it went down in the city of Vinhedo.
Footage aired by local media showed the plane descending rapidly before impact, followed by images of a large plume of smoke rising from what appeared to be a residential area at the crash site.
“There were no survivors,” stated the Valinhos city government, which assisted in the rescue and recovery operation in nearby Vinhedo.
Vinhedo, a city of about 76,000 residents, is located roughly 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.
Before the official death toll was confirmed, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva remarked during an event that it seemed unlikely anyone had survived the crash.
“A plane just crashed in the city of Vinhedo in Sao Paulo, with 58 passengers and four crew members, and it seems that everyone died,” Lula stated during a speech in Itajaí, Santa Catarina state.
Voepass confirmed the incident involving flight 2283 in a statement, adding that the cause of the accident was not yet known.
Sao Paulo’s fire department reported on social media platform X: “Aircraft crash, 7 teams involved, so far only this information.”
Nearby resident Nathalie Cicari described the impact as “terrifying” in an interview with CNN Brasil. “I was having lunch when I heard a very loud noise close by,” she said, noting that the sound was louder than a typical drone. She stepped outside and saw the plane spinning unnaturally before it crashed.
Cicari was unharmed but had to evacuate her home due to black smoke from the crash.
Firefighters, military police, and state civil defense teams were deployed to the Capela neighborhood in Vinhedo.
The plane, which first took flight in April 2010, was detailed on the website planespotters.net.
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