Brazilian Plane Crash Outside São Paulo killed 62

A plane carrying 58 passengers and four crew members crashed in Brazil‘s Sao Paulo state on Friday, killing everyone on board, according to local officials.

The aircraft, a French-made ATR 72-500 operated by the carrier Voepass, crashed near Vinhedo while flying from Cascavel in southern Parana state to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos international airport.

Images shown by local media showed a huge airliner nosediving at great speed, while others showed a large column of smoke rising from the crash scene in what appeared to be a residential neighbourhood.

“There were no survivors,” the city government of Valinhos, which was involved in the rescue and recovery operation in adjacent Vinhedo, stated in an email to AFP.

Vinhedo, a city of almost 76,000 people, is located around 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.

Before an official death toll was announced, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated at an event that there looked to be no survivors.

“A plane just crashed in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo, with 58 passengers and four crew members, and it appears that everyone died,” Lula remarked during an address in Itajai, Santa Catarina.

Voepass issued a statement announcing “an accident involving flight 2283.”

“There is still no confirmation of how the accident occurred,” according to the report.

Sao Paulo’s fire department said on social network X: “Aircraft crash, 7 teams involved, so far only this information.”

Nathalie Cicari, who lives near the crash scene, told BBC Brasil that the impact was “terrifying.”

“I was having lunch, and I heard a very loud noise very close by,” she added, characterising the sound as drone-like but “much louder.”

“I went out onto the balcony and noticed the plane whirling. “I realised within seconds that it was not a normal plane movement,” she told the channel.

Cicari was unharmed, but she had to escape her home, which was filled with black smoke from the incident.

Teams of firefighters, military police, and state civil defence personnel were dispatched in Vinhedo’s Capela neighbourhood.