Regional passenger carrier Voepass crashed into a gated residential community in Brazil’s Sao Paulo killing all 61 people aboard. The plane bound for Sao Paulo's international airport, took off from Cascavel, in the state of Parana, and crashed at around 1:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) in the town of Vinhedo, some 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.
The horrifying video of the crash recorded showed the aircraft spinning uncontrollably and descending straight down before slamming into the ground within a gated community, and leaving an obliterated fuselage consumed by fire. According to AP, local residents reported that there were no injuries among those on the ground.
Brazil Prime Minister Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared three days of official mourning in the country. In a post on X, the Prime Minister wrote, “In memory of the 61 victims of the tragic accident in Vinhedo, we have declared 3 days of official mourning in the country.”
Sao Paulo Governor, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas took to X and wrote, “Once again, I express my solidarity with the friends and family of the victims of this tragedy. @governosp is committed to structuring the operation to provide all necessary support to these grieving families. I thank all the professionals involved for the work carried out at this very sad time.”
Local airline Voepass' plane, an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, was headed for Sao Paulo’s international airport in Guarulhos with 57 passengers and 4 crew members when it went down in the city of Vinhedo. The Brazilian authorities are wroking to piece together what exactly caused the plane crash in Sao Paulo.
A report Friday from Brazilian television network Globo’s meteorological center said it “confirmed the possibility of the formation of ice in the region of Vinhedo,” and local media cited experts pointing to icing as a potential cause for the crash.
Brazilian aviation expert Lito Sousa cautioned that meteorological conditions alone might not be enough to explain why the plane fell in the manner that it did on Friday.
“Analyzing an air crash just with images can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Sousa told the AP by phone. “But we can see a plane with loss of support, no horizontal speed. In this flat spin condition, there’s no way to reclaim control of the plane.”
Speaking to reporters Friday in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo Public Security Secretary Guilherme Derrite said the plane’s black box had been recovered, apparently in a preserved state while Marcelo Moura, director of operations for Voepass, told reporters Friday night that, while there were forecasts for ice, they were within acceptable levels for the aircraft.
Lt. Col. Carlos Henrique Baldi from the Brazilian Air Force’s investigation and prevention center stated at a late afternoon press conference that it is too soon to determine if ice was a factor in the crash. The plane is “certified in several countries to fly in severe icing conditions, including in countries unlike ours, where the impact of ice is more significant,” said Baldi, who heads the center’s investigation division as quoted by AP.
In an earlier statement, the center said that the plane’s pilots did not call for help nor say they were operating under adverse weather conditions. There has been no evidence that the pilots tried to contact controllers of regional airports, either, Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho told reporters Friday night in Vinhedo.
(With all inputs from Associated Press)
