All 58 passengers and four crew members perished in the crash of an airplane on Friday in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, according to local authorities.
When the aircraft, an ATR 72-500 built in France and flown by Voepass, crashed in Vinhedo, it was en route from Cascavel in southern Parana state to Guarulhos international airport in Sao Paulo.
Photos that surfaced on local media showed a big jet plummeting down a steep slope at a fast rate of speed, while other photos showed a thick plume of smoke billowing from the crash scene in what looked like a residential neighborhood.
“There were no survivors,” the city government in Valinhos — which was involved in the rescue and recovery operation in nearby Vinhedo — said in an email sent to AFP.
The city of Vinhedo, with about 76,000 residents, is located approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.
Before an official death toll was given, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said during an event that it appeared there were no survivors.
“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 said in the middle of a speech in Itajai in Santa Catarina state.
In a statement, Voepass reported “an accident involving flight 2283.”
“There is still no confirmation of how the accident occurred,” it said.
Sao Paulo’s fire department wrote on social network X: “Aircraft crash, 7 teams involved, so far only this information.”
‘Terrifying’ Nathalie Cicari, who lives near the crash site, told CNN Brasil the impact was “terrifying.”
“I was having lunch, I heard a very loud noise very close by,” she said, describing the sound as drone-like but “much louder.”
“I went out on the balcony and saw the plane spinning. Within seconds, I realized that it was not a normal movement for a plane,” she told the broadcaster.
Cicari was not hurt but had to evacuate her house, which was filled with black smoke from the crash.
Teams of firefighters, military police and state civil defense were deployed in the Capela neighborhood, in Vinhedo.
The doomed plane recorded its first flight in April 2010, according to the website planespotters.net.
