A tragic airplane disaster occurred in the Brazilian state of São Paulo on Friday, August 10, 2024. An ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop operated by the airline Voepass crashed into a residential area in the city of Vinhedo, killing all 61 people on board.
The flight, carrying 57 passengers and 4 crew members, was en route from Cascavel in Paraná state to São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport when the accident happened. Voepass confirmed that there were no survivors from the crash site.
“The company regrets to inform that all 61 people on board flight 2283 died at the site,” the airline 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.”
This incident marks the deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines plane crashed in Nepal, resulting in 72 fatalities. The ATR 72 model involved in the São Paulo crash has a history of incidents, with previous accidents resulting in 470 deaths since the 1990s, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
Eyewitness accounts and initial investigations suggest that the plane may have encountered icing conditions, which could have contributed to the loss of control and the subsequent crash. However, aviation experts caution that it is still too early to confirm the exact cause of the accident.
The incident has been met with deep sorrow, with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declaring three days of mourning. Many of the passengers were reported to be doctors from the state of Paraná, who were attending a seminar.
“They were people who were used to saving lives, and now they lost theirs in such tragic circumstances,” said Paraná state Governor Ratinho Júnior.
The investigation into the causes of the crash is ongoing, with authorities from the Brazilian Federal Police and the Air Force’s Center for the Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents working to determine the factors that led to this devastating incident.