A regional plane carrying 61 people crashed Friday in a residential neighborhood in Brazil, killing all on board, the airline confirmed, as emergency crews worked at the scene.
At a briefing Friday afternoon, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva delivered the tragic news, calling for a minute of silence to honor the victims of the crash in Vinhedo, a city northwest of São Paulo. The cause of the crash remains unknown, he said.
Uma notícia muito triste. Toda minha solidariedade aos familiares e amigos das vítimas. pic.twitter.com/eb47itDbe8
— Lula (@LulaOficial) August 9, 2024
“It appears all have died,” Lula stated.
In a social media post, Voepass, a regional airline based in São Paulo state, confirmed the crash of flight 2283. It said 57 passengers and four crew members were on board, all carrying Brazil-issued documents, and there were no survivors. An earlier statement had reported 58 passengers.
Some of the passengers were doctors from Paraná heading to a seminar, Paraná Governor Ratinho Júnior informed journalists.
BREAKING: Voepass Flight 2283, a large passenger plane, crashes in Vinhedo, Brazil pic.twitter.com/wmpJLVYbB3
— BNO News (@BNONews) August 9, 2024
“These were people who were used to saving lives, and now they’ve lost theirs in such tragic circumstances,” he said.
The plane departed from Cascavel, a Brazilian city near the country’s southern border with Paraguay and Argentina, and was headed to São Paulo’s main international airport in Guarulhos, Voepass said in its post.
FlightAware data indicated the plane, a twin-engine turboprop ATR-72, departed at 11:50 a.m. local time and was scheduled to land just before 2 p.m.
City officials in Valinhos, near Vinhedo, reported that one home in the local condominium complex was damaged, but none of the residents were injured.
