KUALA LUMPUR – All 57 passengers and four crew members onboard Voepass flight 2283 have died following a crash yesterday in Brazil’s Sao Paulo, confirmed the airline company.
Initially, the airline said the plane was carrying 58 passengers, but a statement on the Voepass website later revised the figure to 57. Including crew, the total number of casualties is confirmed to be 61.
The ATR 72-500 aircraft was travelling from Cascavel in southern Parana state to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport when it crashed in Vinhedo city.
“There were no survivors,” the Valinhos city government, which was involved in the rescue and recovery operation in nearby Vinhedo, told AFP.
The city of Vinhedo is home to about 76,000 residents and is located around 80km northwest of Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo State Governor Tarcisio de Freitas told reporters at the scene that recovery of the victims’ remains for identification has begun and will continue throughout the night.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared three days of mourning to pay respect to the casualties and their loved ones.
According to Voepass, the plane, a twin-engine turboprop, took off “without any flight restrictions, with all its systems operational.”
It also added that the company is fully cooperating with authorities to identify the cause of the crash, alongside giving full assistance to the victims’ family members.
Brazil’s aviation accident agency has launched an investigation while ATR, a Franco-Italian aircraft maker and Airbus subsidiary, said its experts were working to help investigators.
At the scene, firefighters, military police and state civil defence were deployed to manage the on-ground crisis.
Photos on social media showed a large passenger plane spinning as it plummeted almost vertically, while others showed heavy smoke rising from the crash site, which is believed to be a residential area.
Military police told Brazillian media the accident had not caused any casualties on the ground, and that the fire sparked by the crash had been brought under control.
Flight 2283’s black box “has already been found, apparently preserved,” Sao Paulo state security official Guilherme Derrite told reporters at the scene, AFP reported.
The plane recorded its first flight in April 2010, according to planespotters.net.
Despite the recent tragedy, air safety has improved dramatically in recent decades. Fatal passenger plane crashes are ever-more rare worldwide.
In January 2023, another ATR 72 operated by Yeti Airlines crashed after stalling in Nepal, killing all 72 on board.
Nepalese authorities attributed the incident to pilot error. – August 10, 2024