Passenger Plane Crashes in Brazil, Leaving 62 Dead

A passenger plane carrying 61 passengers crashed on the suburbs of São Paulo on Friday afternoon, killing all on board, according to Brazilian officials.

VoePass, the airline that was flying the flight, said that Flight 2283 had crashed near its destination of São Paulo, in the Brazilian city of Vinhedo. VoePass has a daily scheduled trip lasting around two hours, and the flight originated from Cascavel, Brazil, which is approximately 450 miles distant.

“There is still no confirmation of how the accident occurred,” the airline said in a statement.

The reason behind the ATR 72-500, a twin-engine turboprop plane, plummeting 17,000 feet in a minute is still unknown, according to flight tracking data. In an official statement, airline Voepass stated that "there is still no confirmation of how the accident occurred or the current situation of the people on board."

Vinhedo officials reported that four crew members and 57 passengers perished in the incident. According to authorities, no one on the ground was hurt when the plane landed in a house's yard; it did not strike any homes. Osmir Aparecido Cruz, a top Vinhedo security official, told the Brazilian news site Globo, "It hit really close to a residence, which even had people inside."

Flightradar24 data indicates that the aircraft lost communication just before 1:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. ET) on its way from Cascavel, in the Brazilian state of Parana, to Guarulhos, in the state of São Paulo.

A minute and a half before it crashed, it started to lose altitude. Up until 1:21 p.m. local time, the aircraft was cruising at 17,000 feet. After that, it descended about 250 feet in ten seconds. Then, in roughly eight seconds, it ascended 400 feet or so.

It lost little under 2,000 feet eight seconds later. After that, it started to plummet quickly—roughly 17,000 feet in only one minute. This all happened in about one minute.

The aircraft last transmitted data at 1:22 p.m. local time.

FlightRadar24, a flight data service, states that the aircraft was an ATR 72, a twin-engine regional turboprop manufactured by ATR, a joint venture between Airbus and Leonardo, two European aerospace manufacturers.

The aircraft was produced in 2010 and authorized to carry up to 68 passengers, according to Brazilian aviation authorities.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva requested a minute of silence for the victims at a function on Friday. “We just have to mourn and care for the families, care for the people who are now going to be very nervous,” he told reporters later. “Lots of sadness in the air.”

Tarcísio de Freitas, the governor of São Paulo, has declared the formation of a crisis cabinet to address the jet crash in Vinhedo, the state's interior. According to a statement from the São Paulo government, several agencies are on the scene of the incident assisting with rescue attempts.