61 people aboard plane die in fiery crash in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state, airline says

Update:

BRAZIL — A passenger plane with 61 people aboard crashed into a gated residential community in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state Friday, killing all aboard, the airline said.

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The airline earlier had reported that 62 people were aboard the flight that crashed in Vinhedo, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo, but later updated the number to 61.

“The company regrets to inform that all 61 people on board flight 2283 died at the site,” VOEPASS said in a statement. “At this time, VOEPASS is prioritizing provision of unrestricted assistance to the victims’ families and effectively collaborating with authorities to determine the causes of the accident.”

Original story:

A plane with 62 people aboard crashed in a fiery wreck in a residential area of a city in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state Friday, the airline said, but it was not immediately clear how many people were injured or killed.

The airline VOEPASS confirmed in a statement that a plane headed for Sao Paulo’s international airport Guarulhos crashed in the city of Vinhedo with 58 passengers and 4 crew members aboard. The statement didn’t say what caused the accident.

At an event in southern Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked the crowd to stand and observe a minute of silence as he shared the news. He said that it appeared that all passengers and crew aboard had died, without elaborating as to how that information had been obtained.

Video the AP obtained from a bystander and verified shows at least two bodies strewn about flaming pieces of wreckage.

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Firefighters, military police and the civil defense authority dispatched teams to the crash site in Vinhedo. Authorities sealed off the entrance to the residential area where the plane went down, as journalists outside watched as official vehicles including ambulances drove in and waited for updates.

Brazilian television network GloboNews showed aerial footage of an area on fire with smoke coming out of an obliterated plane fuselage. Additional footage on GloboNews earlier showed the plane drifting downward vertically, spiraling as it fell.

The Capela neighborhood where the plane crashed sits in a district far from the center of the prosperous city that’s home to 77,000 residents.

The plane departed from Cascavel, in the state of Parana.

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AP videojournalist Tatiana Pollastri contributed from Vinhedo

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