What we know about the tragedy that left 61 dead near Sao Paulo

An investigation has been opened to determine the causes of the accident, which occurred on Friday in the south-east of the country.

A plane crashed on Friday, August 9, in Vinhedo, in the Sao Paulo region (Brazil), killing all 61 people on board, according to the authorities. An investigation has been opened by the Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents of Brazil to determine the causes of this air disaster, which remain unknown at this stage. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this tragedy, for which the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has decreed three days of national mourning.

A sudden fall in a residential area

The flight operated by the Brazilian airline Voepass connected Cascavel, in the southern state of Parana, to Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo. According to the Brazilian Air Force, it “proceeded normally until 1:20 p.m.”local time. But, a minute later, “the device did not answer calls” from the control tower and “nor did he report being in an emergency situation or facing adverse weather conditions.” “The loss of contact with the radar occurred at 1:22 p.m.”the army added.

Images released by local media show the plane falling at high speed. The craft crashed at 1:25 p.m. in Vinhedo, a town of 76,000 people located some 80 kilometers northwest of Sao Paulo, causing fear among residents. In other images, a long column of smoke can be seen rising from the impact site.

All 61 people on board the plane died

The plane was carrying “57 passengers and four crew members”according to Voepass. “There were no survivors”said the Valinhos city hall, which participated in the rescue operations in the neighboring town of Vinhedo. A resident from Vinhedo reported having “saw a lot of bodies on the ground, a lot” at the scene of the accident.

The recovery of the victims’ remains for their “identification” has begun, Sao Paulo state Governor Tarcisio de Freitas announced Friday. The bodies will be transferred to the main morgue in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic capital. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has declared three days of national mourning after the “tragic accident”.

The cause of the accident is still unknown

The aircraft is an ATR 72-500 model. The manufacturer, a subsidiary of Airbus and the Italian group Leonardo, said that “ATR specialists are fully committed to supporting the ongoing investigation”. For its part, the Voepass company specified that:“There is no confirmed information yet regarding the circumstances of the accident.” According to the company, the device had undergone repair operations “routine maintenance the night before” and left Ribeirao Preto, a city in the state of Sao Paulo where Voepass is headquartered, “without any technical problems”.

According to the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency, the aircraft complied with all the standards in force. The crew of the plane was experienced: the pilot and the co-pilot had accumulated more than 5,000 hours of flight during their careers, according to the CEO of Voepass, quoted by the daily The GlobeThe black box has been found and will need to be analyzed.

Among the hypotheses studied, investigators are looking into the possible formation of ice on the wings of the aircraft, according to the company, which nevertheless emphasizes that:“no hypothesis” is not “excluded”.