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São Paulo, Brazil: A tragic plane crash in São Paulo on Friday claimed the lives of all 61 people onboard, leaving a scene of devastation in a residential neighborhood. The aircraft, an ATR 72-500 operated by VoePass, plummeted from the sky, spiraling out of control before crashing near homes, sparking a blaze that engulfed the wreckage.
Eyewitnesses described the terrifying moments leading up to the crash. Martins Barbosa, a 49-year-old truck driver, was just 150 meters away from the crash site. Fearing the worst, he rushed home, thinking the plane might have fallen on his house where his son was inside. “I thought it might have fallen on my house,” he told AFP, later expressing relief that his family was safe.
⚡️From the crash site of the passenger plane in Brazil pic.twitter.com/zKCNHMr7Mk
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) August 9, 2024
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Nathalie Cicari, another local resident, was having lunch when she heard a loud, ominous noise. “It sounded like a drone but much louder,” she told CNN Brasil. When she stepped out onto her balcony, she witnessed the plane spinning uncontrollably, a sight that sent chills down her spine. “I realized it was not a normal movement for a plane,” she recounted, her home soon filled with black smoke from the crash.
Ricardo Rodrigues, another witness at the scene, described the aftermath as harrowing. “I arrived and saw many bodies on the ground—many of them,” he told local media, still shaken by the grisly sight.
The exact cause of the crash remains unknown. FlightRadar24, which tracked the plane’s final moments, noted that the aircraft was at 4,100 feet and approaching São Paulo when it suddenly dropped. VoePass, one of Brazil’s oldest airlines, has pledged full cooperation with investigators to determine the cause of the accident.
The ATR 72-500 model, co-manufactured by Airbus and Leonardo SpA, typically has a strong safety record. However, this incident marks one of the deadliest aviation disasters in Brazil this year. Recovery efforts are ongoing, with the black box already recovered to aid in the investigation.
As authorities continue to piece together the events that led to this tragic accident, the local community is left grappling with the horror of what they witnessed, and the nation mourns the loss of 61 lives.
