A passenger plane carrying 61 individuals crashed on Friday near São Paulo, Brazil, resulting in the deaths of everyone on board, according to Brazilian officials.
The flight, operated by VoePass, was identified as Flight 2283 and went down in the city of Vinhedo, close to its intended destination of São Paulo. The aircraft had originated from Cascavel, Brazil, approximately 450 miles (724 kilometers) away, on a nearly two-hour route that VoePass has been operating on a daily basis.
“The cause of the accident has not yet been confirmed,” the airline stated. Initially, VoePass reported that there were 62 individuals on the flight.
Local authorities in Vinhedo confirmed that there were no survivors from the crash. The plane landed in the yard of a residence without striking any homes, and no people on the ground were harmed, officials asserted.
“It crashed very close to a house that had occupants inside,” Osmir Aparecido Cruz, a senior security official in Vinhedo, told the news outlet Globo.
Footage shared online depicted the aircraft spiraling as it fell from the sky, with some videos concluding with a large plume of black smoke billowing from the crash site. Other clips illustrated the aftermath, featuring the wreckage of the plane and nearby vegetation ablaze. Globo interrupted its Olympics coverage to show aerial views of firefighters dousing the smoking impact site, beside the scattered remains of the aircraft. Two nearby buildings appeared to be residences.
As per FlightRadar24, a flight data provider, the aircraft involved was an ATR 72, a twin-engine regional turboprop manufactured by ATR, a collaboration between the European aerospace companies Airbus and Leonardo. FlightRadar24 reported that VoePass utilized the same aircraft for a flight from São Paulo to Cascavel earlier that day.
Brazilian aviation records indicate that the aircraft was built in 2010 and was certified to carry up to 68 passengers.
In its final minute of flight, the plane’s transponder indicated it was descending at a rate between 8,000 and 24,000 feet per minute. Before the rapid descent, the aircraft was cruising at an altitude of 17,000 feet, according to FlightRadar24.
FlightRadar24 also noted that at the location where control was lost, there was an active warning for severe icing conditions. Ice formation on planes during flight can create hazardous situations by increasing an aircraft’s weight and decreasing lift. Most aircraft are equipped with anti-icing systems designed to mitigate or prohibit ice buildup.
VoePass, which was previously known as Passaredo, is a small airline in Brazil operating a fleet of 15 ATR aircraft to service medium-sized cities across the country. Last year, it transported around 500,000 passengers, accounting for nearly 0.5% of the Brazilian aviation market.
Globally, there are over 800 ATR aircraft in operation, comprising just under 3% of the active fleet of passenger planes, according to Cirium, an aviation data analytics firm. Although ATR jets are primarily prevalent in Asia and Europe, Brazil is a significant user of these aircraft.
ATR announced that it would work with investigators examining the accident.
Residents of Vinhedo, a city with a population of 80,000 located about an hour’s drive from São Paulo, reported hearing a loud noise as the plane descended. Helen Erlemann, a 19-year-old student who resides near the crash site, described hearing a loud crash while in her bedroom, stating, “I looked out the other window and saw a massive cloud of smoke rising.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a minute of silence for the victims during an event on Friday. He expressed condolences, saying, “We must mourn and support the families, care for those who are now extremely anxious. There is a lot of sadness in the air,” he later told reporters.
