Buscan la causa del accidente de avión en Brasil, 61 muertos
La agencia brasileña de investigación de accidentes aéreos, Cenipa, está investigando la causa del accidente. El avión de la compañía franco-italiana ATR volaba desde Cascavel en el estado sureño de Paraná hasta el Aeropuerto Internacional de Guarulhos cerca de São Paulo.
Según la aerolínea Voepass, había 57 pasajeros y cuatro miembros de la tripulación a bordo del avión siniestrado. El accidente ocurrió alrededor de las 13:25 hora local (18:25 CEST) en Vinhedo, una ciudad de 76,000 personas a unos 80 kilómetros al noroeste de São Paulo.
Los residentes de Vinhedo quedaron impactados. El conductor de camión Martins Barbosa estaba trabajando cuando el accidente ocurrió a unos 150 metros de su casa: "Pensé que podría haber caído en mi casa con mi hijo adentro", dijo el de 49 años. Luego descubrió que su familia estaba bien. Afortunadamente, no hubo otras víctimas en la zona residencial.
"It was terrible, we saw the plane spinning around and crashing. God saved us, it was just a little bit from falling on my house. I can't stop shaking," Edna Barbosa told TV station SBT.
Neighbor Nathalie Cicari told CNN Brasil: "I was eating when I heard a loud noise very close, like a drone but much louder." She ran to the balcony and saw the spinning plane. "I just had time to duck and pray like they do in the movies, then I heard the huge crash of the crash." Local media showed videos of black smoke rising from the crash site in the residential area. Cicari was not injured but had to evacuate her smoke-filled house.
Guilherme Derrite from São Paulo's state security agency told journalists at the crash site that the plane's black box had been found and appeared to be intact.
The twin-engine turboprop aircraft took off "without any flight restrictions, fully operational with all equipment," the airline assured. The air force said contact with the aircraft was suddenly lost, with no distress call.
Firefighters, police officers, and military police were at the crash site. The identification of bodies has begun and will continue throughout the night, said São Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called it a "tragic accident" and declared three days of national mourning. Cascavel Mayor Leonardo Paranhos also called it a "tragedy for all of us" and offered the support of the authorities to the families of the victims.
The airline said it is working with authorities to determine the cause of the accident and will provide full support to the families of the victims.
The ill-fated aircraft had been in service since April 2010, according to the website planespotters.net. Before Friday's crash, Cenipa had recorded 108 plane accidents in Brazil this year, with 49 fatalities.
In January 2023, another ATR-72 aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines in Nepal crashed, killing all 72 on board. Authorities blamed pilot error for that crash.
The investigation by Cenipa into the accident involves determining the cause of the flight's unfortunate incident. Following the crash, the search and rescue operations at the site revealed that the aircraft's black box had been found intact.
