What is known about the plane crash in Brazil, killing all 62 people on board?

A plane with 62 people on board crashed on Friday afternoon in a residential area of ​​the city of Vinhedo, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The airline Voepass The company first reported that there were 57 passengers and four crew members on board, but later updated the figure to 58 passengers on Saturday. According to local authorities, there are no survivors.

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On land, only one house was damaged and there were no injuries.

According Voepassthe company that owns the aircraft, the plane left Cascavelin the state of Paranaand was heading to the airport Guarulhoswhich serves the city of Sao Paulo.

Videos spread on social networks show the plane plummeting while spinning in the air. Then an explosion occurs and black smoke comes out from the impact site.

The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvacalled for a minute of silence and expressed his “solidarity to the families and friends of the victims.”

“I would like everyone to stand up so we can observe a minute of silence because a plane has just crashed. It seems that everyone has died,” the president said at the start of his speech in the southern state of Santa Catarina.

• A plane crashed in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, killing all 58 passengers and four crew members on board.
• All the victims’ bodies were recovered in just over 24 hours.
• Authorities say only one home on land was damaged and none of the residents were injured.
• The plane was flying from Cascavel in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná to the main airport in the city of Sao Paulo when it crashed in the town of Vinhedo, according to the airline Voepass.
• Images and videos circulating on social media show a plane descending vertically and spiraling downwards.
• Voepass said there was “no confirmation yet as to how the accident occurred.”
• This is the deadliest air accident in Brazil since 2007, when a TAM plane burst into flames, killing 199 people.

What is known?

Voepass flight 2283 departed Cascavel at 11:56 local time (14:56 GMT) on Friday and was scheduled to land at 13:40 in Guarulhos.

However, the plane – a ATR 72-500 powered by two turbines – stopped transmitting its signal about 20 minutes before reaching its destination.

Until now There is no word on what may have caused the crash. Authorities said the plane’s recorders, known colloquially as “black boxes,” had been recovered. Franco-Italian firm ATR said it would cooperate with the investigation.

Brazil’s civil aviation agency said the aircraft, which was built in 2010, was “in good operating conditionswith valid registration and airworthiness certificates.”

The four crew members on board at the time of the accident had All valid licenses and certifications.

Videos posted on social media show the plane was flying over the town of Vinhedo when it began to plummet, apparently out of control.

The plane crashed in a populated area, causing damage only to a nearby house. No one on the ground was injured.

The Brazilian Air Force (FAB), through the Airspace Control Department (DECEA), reported that the flight “It developed normally until 1:20 p.m. (local time)”.

However, until 13:21, the aircraft did not respond to calls from São Paulo Approach Control, nor did it declare an emergency, nor did it report being in adverse weather conditions.

A minute later all trace of the device was lost.

“There was no communication from the aircraft to the control bodies that there was an emergency”said Brigadier Marcelo Moreno, BBC Brazil reported.

Formerly known as Passaredo Linhas Aéreas, Voepass was founded in 1995. It serves 37 destinations in all regions of Brazil and last year transported more than 500,000 passengers, according to the airline itself.

With 29 years of history, it is considered the oldest brazilian airline to operate in the country.

Recovery work

Emergency services were deployed immediately after the plane crashed.

After a job that lasted through the night and into the early morning, By Saturday all the bodies had been recovered.Identification efforts were underway, according to Capt. Maycon Cristo, a spokesman for the fire department that is assisting in the recovery efforts.

He said the teams were relying on a number of factors to help the identification process. These included documents and the position of the bodies in relation to the seats, as well as mobile phones recovered from some of the victims.

Governor Tarcísio de Freitas expressed his “solidarity to all the victims and those affected by this tragedy.”

This is the Brazil’s deadliest plane crash since 2007when a TAM plane burst into flames, killing 199 people.

Remembering the victims

In Brazil, the painful process of putting faces and names to the 62 people who died in the accident has begun.

BBC Brazil reported that the victims include doctors, politicians, a judo referee and even a little girl of just 3 years old.

“(They were) human doctors, who treated all patients with great dedication, affection and respect,” the Uopeccan Oncology Hospital in Cascavel wrote about doctors Arianne Albuquerque Estevan Risso and Mariana Comiran Belim, both clinical oncology residents, who were traveling on the crashed plane.

At least two other doctors died in the incident. The health professionals were on board because they were going to Sao Paulo for a conference, Brazil’s Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) said in a statement.

For its part, the State University of Western Paraná (Unioeste) regretted the loss of eight people linked to the institution, including professors and former students. One of them was the judo referee and professor of the Physical Education department, Edilson Hobold.

“He was 52 years old and dedicated much of his life to judo, standing out as one of the most outstanding referees in the country. Always kind and courteous, he had the respect and admiration of all who interacted with him,” the institution said in a statement.

A girl, 3 years oldalso appears on the list of deceased, according to local media. The news portal Catve.com He said that one of his journalists, Adriana Ibba, lost her daughter, who was traveling on the plane with her father, Rafael Fernando dos Santos, who also died.

Another family destroyed was that of Nélvio José Hubner, who was deputy attorney general of the municipality of Toledo, and Gracinda Marina da Silva, a professor at the Federal Technological University of Paraná and a candidate for councilor for an opposition party.

“Married for 25 years, The couple leaves behind three children and countless friends and colleagues who admired them both personally and professionally.“, reads a message of condolence posted on the ill-fated candidate’s Instagram account.

The account of the witnesses

The accident was witnessed by numerous people.

“When I heard the sound of the plane falling, I looked out the window of my house and I saw the moment it crashed“Felipe Magalhaes told Reuters news agency.

For her part, Letícia Oliveira do Nascimento said that the device looked like “a paper airplane.”

“It was clear that the pilot had lost control. and that something bad could happen. And in the end, it really looked like paper and it fell. It was very close to the neighborhood where I live. As soon as it fell, all the smoke rose and there was silence,” the business administration student who lives near the area of ​​the accident told BBC Brazil.

Meanwhile, at Cascavel airport, where the plane took off, a handful of passengers who missed the crashed flight spoke of their feelings.

“It’s an overwhelming feeling”Adriano Assis admitted to the local press.

The man said that the lack of information about the flight’s departure time and the absence of airline staff at the terminal prevented him from boarding and ended up saving his life.