A plane with a capacity of about 70 passengers crashed this Friday in a residential area of the Brazilian municipality of Vinhedo, in the state of São Paulo, as reported by the fire department of the military police of that state.
On board the plane, a twin-engine ATR-72-500 model, were 62 people, including 58 passengers and four crew members, according to television reports. GlobonewsNone of the passengers survived, as confirmed by the President of the Republic, Lula da Silva, and the mayor of Vinhedo.
At least seven firefighter teams were mobilized to deal with the accident, according to the agency, which has not yet specified whether there were any deaths.
Sources at São Paulo airport informed Globonews that it was a twin-engine ATR-72-500 model aircraft of the Voepass airline, and that it was traveling from the city of Cascavel to São Paulo.
Videos posted on social media show the plane spinning before crashing with a loud roar in the municipality of Vinhedo, on the outskirts of São Paulo.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva confirmed the deaths of all those on board the plane and asked for a minute of silence in their memory at the launch of a new Brazilian navy frigate in Santa Catarina.
In addition, the mayor of that city announced that the governor of the state of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, was already on his way to the scene of the plane crash. The governor was in Vitória, capital of the state of Espírito Santo, on the occasion of a meeting of the South and Southeast Integration Consortium (Cosud) and is going there to accompany the work of the rescue teams.
The security secretary of the city of Vinhedo confirmed that there were no “external” victims following the crash of the plane, which collapsed on the gardens of two different single-family homes.