A plane carrying 61 passengers has tragically crashed near the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, with all onboard confirmed dead, according to local officials. The Brazilian airline Voepass released a statement on Friday, confirming the crash of flight 2283 northeast of Sao Paulo. “The company regrets to inform that all 61 people on board died at the site,” the statement read. Voepass emphasized their commitment to supporting the victims’ families and cooperating fully with authorities in the ongoing investigation into the cause of the crash.
Initially, the airline had reported 62 passengers on board but later updated the figure to 61. Local officials in the town of Valinhos confirmed that there were no survivors. The crash caused damage to a single home in a residential area, though fortunately, no residents were injured.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, asking for a moment of silence during an event shortly after the crash. “I must be the bearer of very bad news… a plane just fell in the town of Vinhedos in Sao Paulo… and it seems that all of them passed,” he solemnly announced.
News outlets, including Globo, shared harrowing images of the plane’s wreckage engulfed in flames. A video verified by the Associated Press showed bodies amid the debris, underscoring the severity of the crash. Monica Yanakiew, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, described the plane as “totally destroyed,” indicating that survival was unlikely.
This incident is being referred to as one of the most devastating aviation disasters in modern Brazilian history. Emergency responders, including firefighters, military police, and the civil defense authority, have been dispatched to the crash site, which has been secured by authorities. The Federal Police’s general director, Andrei Passos, reported that a specialized team is conducting an investigation and working on disaster victim identification.
Flightradar24, an air traffic tracking service, identified the aircraft as an ATR72-500, built in 2010. The plane was on a flight from Cascavel airport in the southern state of Parana to Sao Paulo at the time of the crash.
