A plane carrying 62 passengers and crew members crashed just outside the city of São Paulo in Brazil, leaving no survivors, News About Nigeria reports.
The ill-fated flight, operated by the Brazilian airline Voepass, went down on Friday in the town of Valinhos, a quiet residential area that.
Local officials in Valinhos reported that, miraculously, the crash impacted only a single home in the area, sparing the lives of the residents.
However, all 58 passengers and four crew members onboard perished in the accident.
As news of the crash spread, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addressed the nation, confirming the outcome and calling for a moment of silence in memory of the victims.
The crash site was quickly cordoned off by authorities.
First responders, including firefighters, military police, and members of Brazil’s civil defense, were dispatched to the location to secure the area and begin recovery efforts.
Images shared by local news outlet Globo showed the remains of the aircraft.
According to Al Jazeera, the plane had been flying at an altitude of 700 feet before it suddenly plummeted 4,000 feet.
The plane crashed into a house, which fortunately was empty at the time, sparing further loss of life on the ground.
The Federal Police’s general director, Andrei Passos, announced that a specialised forensic team had been dispatched to the crash site.
Their task is to conduct a thorough investigation, including the identification of the victims—a process that is expected to be challenging given the extent of the destruction.
Flight data from Flightradar24 indicated that the aircraft was an ATR72-500, a model built in 2010, which was en route from Cascavel airport in the southern state of Paraná to São Paulo.
The exact cause of the crash remains unknown, and Voepass has not yet provided any detailed statements regarding the potential reasons behind the incident.
