A plane has crashed in Sao Paulo state in Brazil, killing all 57 passengers and four crew members on board.
The twin-engine turboprop was flying from Cascavel in the southern state of Paraná to Guarulhos airport in the city of São Paulo when it crashed in the town of Vinhedo, Voepass airline said.
Footage circulating on social media shows a plane in vertical descent, spiraling as it falls.
The ATR 72-500 was carrying a total of 61 people. Local authorities say there are no survivors.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his solidarity with the families and loved ones of the victims.
The governor of the state of São Paulo, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, declared three days of mourning.
Authorities said the flight recorders were recovered. ATR, the Franco-Italian aircraft manufacturer, indicated it would cooperate with the investigation. The plane crashed in a residential area, but no one on the ground was injured.
Authorities said only one home in a local condominium complex was damaged.
The video showed a large area on fire and smoke debris in an area full of houses.
Police and fire services are on ground. According to the tracking site Flightradar24, the plane took off from Cascavel at 11:56 a.m. local time (2:56 p.m. GMT). The last signal received by the plane was about an hour and a half later.
Brazil’s civil aviation agency said the plane, built in 2010, was “in good operating condition, with valid registration and airworthiness certificates.”
The four crew members on board at the time of the accident were properly certified and had valid qualifications, the statement added.
The Uopeccan Cancer Hospital in Cascavel told BBC Brasil that two of its in-house doctors were among the passengers who died.
Local residents saw the moment the plane crashed.
“When I heard the sound of the plane falling, I looked out my window at home and saw the moment it crashed,” Felipe Magalhaes told Reuters news agency, adding that the sight had left him “terrified”.
Another resident, Nathalie Cicari, told CNN Brasil that she was having lunch when she heard a “very loud noise very close by”, describing it as the sound of a drone but “much louder”.
“I went out on the balcony and saw the plane spinning. Within seconds, I realised that it was not a normal movement for a plane.”
It is the worst plane crash in Brazil since 2007, when a TAM Express plane crashed and caught fire at Congonhas airport in São Paulo, killing 199 people.
President Lula paid tribute to the victims during a speech.
“I have to be the bearer of very bad news and I would like everyone to stand up so that we can have a minute of silence,” he told his audience.
He posted on social media that the news of the crash was “very sad”.
“All my solidarity to the families and friends of the victims,” he said.
The nearby municipality of Valinhos sent 20 rescuers to the scene as part of a joint operation, local authorities said.
“Twenty men were mobilised, including three vehicles from the Valinhos Municipal Civil Guard and one vehicle from the Civil Defense,” Valinhos City Hall said in a statement.
ATR indicated in a press release that it had been informed of an accident involving an ATR 72-500.
“Our first thoughts are with all the individuals affected by this event,” it said.
“The ATR specialists are fully engaged to support both the investigation and the customer.”
Source: BBC News
