Brazil plane crash: VoePass confirm 62 people dead after Sao Paulo flight crashes into residential area
VoePass Linhas Aéreas has confirmed 62 people have died from a fiery crash in Brazil.
The flight, which was en route to Sao Paulo’s international airport Guarulhos from Cascavel, Parana, went down with 58 passengers and four crew.
Col Emerson Massera of the Brazilian military police told reporters: “There are no survivors.”
The airline released a statement saying: “The aircraft took off from Cascavel/PR bound for Guarulhos Airport, with 58 passengers and four crew members on board.”
“Voepass has activated all means to support those involved. There is still no confirmation of how the accident occurred or the current situation of the people on board.”
It is not yet know what caused the accident.
Authorities raced to the crash site in Vinhedo, including Sau Paulo’s state fire brigade.
Video posted on social media shows the plane spiralling towards the ground before bursting into flames with clouds of smoke billowing from the crash site.
Brazilian television network GloboNews showed footage of a large area on fire and smoke coming out of an apparent plane fuselage in a residential area full of houses.
Additional footage on GloboNews showed a plane drifting downward vertically, spiralling as it fell.
At an event in southern Brazil, President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva asked the crowd to stand and observe a minute of silence as he shared the news.
He said that it appeared that all passengers and crew aboard had died, without elaborating as to how that information had been obtained.
The Capela neighbourhood where the plane crashed sits in a district far from the centre of the prosperous city that’s home to 77,000 residents.
Authorities sealed off the entrance to the residential area where the plane went down, as journalists outside watched as official vehicles including ambulances drove in and waited for updates.
- With Reuters, PA and AP
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