SAO PAULO: A small plane crashed on a busy street in Sao Paulo on Friday morning, killing both people on board and injuring six others.
Authorities confirmed that the aircraft, which took off from a nearby private airport, went down in the Barra Funda neighbourhood, just minutes into its flight. The victims were identified as pilot Gustavo Medeiros and aircraft owner Márcio Carpena.
The crash caused chaos on the west side of the city, with debris striking a bus and a motorcyclist, injuring them both. Four more bystanders sustained minor injuries and were taken to local hospitals.
CCTV footage captured the dramatic moment when the plane slammed into the avenue, narrowly missing a line of waiting cars. Images showed the fuselage and a bus engulfed in flames, with firefighters rushing to contain the blaze.
The aircraft was headed to Porto Alegre in Rio Grande do Sul, but it lost altitude just 5 km from the airport. The cause of the crash remains unknown, and the Brazilian Air Force has launched an investigation.
Brazil has seen several deadly small aircraft crashes in recent years. A particularly shocking incident occurred in August 2023 in Vinhedo, when a passenger plane fell into a flat spin and crashed into a residential area, killing all 72 people on board.
-Agencies
