SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – A devastating air disaster occurred on Friday afternoon near São Paulo when a passenger plane crashed, killing all 61 people on board instantly. This was confirmed in an official statement from Voepass, the airline operating the flight. The aftermath of the crash, including the aircraft’s fiery wreckage, was captured in dramatic footage circulated on social media.
Flight 2283, carrying 57 passengers and four crew members, had all those on board confirmed dead at the scene by Voepass. The company revised its initial death toll of 62 down to 61. All passengers carried Brazilian identification documents, although it’s yet to be confirmed whether any held dual citizenship.
The ATR 72-500, a twin-engine turboprop plane, was recorded as having made a sudden drop of 17,000 feet within one minute, as per collected flight tracking data. The exact cause of this precipitous drop remains undetermined at this point.
Footage from social media showed the plane spiraling to the ground amid widespread panic from local residents, followed by footage of the flaming wreckage. São Paulo city officials confirmed that there were no casualties or injuries on the ground.
Flight 2283 departed from Cascavel in the state of Parana and was headed for Guarulhos in the state of São Paulo. Tracking data from Flightradar24 showed that the plane’s signal was lost just before 1:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. ET).
A rapid altitude loss was recorded, with the plane dropping from its cruising altitude of 17,000 feet at 1:21 p.m. local time, descending approximately 250 feet within 10 seconds. After it rose around 400 feet over the next eight seconds, it experienced a drastic drop of nearly 17,000 feet in just one minute. The final data transmission from the plane was at 1:22 p.m. local time.
Officials said a medical team is at the crash site, attempting to identify victims who have been too severely burned for visual identification. These updates were shared at a press conference by São Paolo’s Security Secretary Guilherme Derrite.
The city hall of Vinhedo confirmed in a statement that the fire resulting from the crash has now been contained.