Brazil: No survivors in plane crash with 61 people on board

A plane with 61 people on board crashed in the municipality of Vinhedo in Brazil's Sao Paulo state on Friday. The airline confirmed that there were no survivors.

"The company regrets to inform that all 61 people on board flight 2283 died at the site," said airline Voepass in a statement — 57 passengers and four crew members.

"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."

Voepass had initially said that 62 people had been on board — 58 passengers and four crew members — but later corrected that figure to 61.

What we know so far

Local firefighters confirmed that the plane fell in Vinhedo, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of the city of Sao Paulo.

TV GloboNews showed footage of a large area on fire and smoke coming out of an apparent plane fuselage.

The ATR-72 plane was en route from Cascavel, in the state of Parana, to Guarulhos, in Sao Paulo.

"There is still no confirmation of how the accident happened or the current situation of the people on board," Voepass said on Instagram.

The plane, a twin-engine turboprop, took off "without any flight restrictions, with all its systems operational," the Voepass statement said.

ATR, a Franco-Italian aircraft maker and Airbus subsidiary, said its experts were working to help investigators.

Lula calls for minute's silence, 3 days of mourning nationwide

At an event in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, President Lula da Silva asked the crowd to stand and observe a minute of silence.

Lula said that it appeared that all passengers and crew aboard had died without elaborating as to how he obtained the information.

"A plane has just crashed in the town of Vinhedo, in Sao Paulo, with 58 passengers and four crew members and it seems that everyone has died," said Lula da Silva, referring to the earlier casualty figure.

The Brazilian president later declared a three-day nationwide state of mourning.

"Firefighters are already at the scene of the crash of flight 2283, which occurred in the early afternoon in Vinhedo. My solidarity to all victims and those affected by this tragedy," Governor of the State of São Paulo Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas posted on X, formerly Twitter.

jsi,mf/rmt (AP, Reuters, AFP, Lusa, dpa)