SAO PAULO (TND) — According to the Brazilian president, 62 people were killed in a plane crash with flames in a residential area of a city in São Paulo, Brazil.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva published a video on X in which he called for a minute’s silence for the victims and confirmed that they all appeared to have died.
“First, I have to deliver some very bad news and I want everyone to stand up so we can observe a minute of silence because a plane with 58 passengers and 4 crew members crashed in the city of Vinhedo, in São Paulo, and it seems that they all died. I would like to ask for a minute of silence for the victims,” CNN said in a translation.
The airline Voepass confirmed in a statement that the plane was heading to Guarulho International Airport in São Paulo.
No information was provided about the cause of the incident.
Firefighters, military police and the Civil Protection Agency dispatched teams to the crash site in Vinhedo. Authorities sealed off access to the residential area where the plane crashed while journalists waited outside for news.
Brazilian television station GloboNews showed aerial footage of a burning area with smoke rising from the destroyed fuselage. Additional footage from GloboNews earlier showed the plane drifting vertically downwards and spiraling as it fell.
The plane took off from Cascavel in the state of Paraná.
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Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.