At least 61 dead after passenger plane crashes in Brazil

• At least 61 people were killed after a passenger plane crashed outside São Paulo on Friday afternoon, according to Brazilian officials. Authorities have located the black box flight recorder at the crash site, an official said.
• The cause of the crash is still unclear, airline Voepass said in a statement Friday. The plane was traveling from Cascavel, in the Brazilian state of Parana, to São Paulo.
• Dramatic social media videos showed the plane crashing in the residential area and then a plume of gray smoke going up in the sky.

Voepass airline officials said there is no information as of yet on what caused the plane crash that killed at least 61 people outside São Paulo Friday.

The airline will work closely with the Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA) to look into the case, Voepass CEO Eduardo Busch told a press conference.

“The entire crew was competent,” Busch said. “We are waiting for access to all communications between the pilot and the control tower to have a broader understanding of what happened.”

Busch said the plane had two black boxes – devices that store flight data built to withstand crashes – and that there are two highly qualified laboratories available to analyze them.

“On one hand, it is possible to retrieve data from the recorder, but on the other hand, there is a chance that, due to the severity of the accident, the recorders were damaged, making it impossible to access the recorded data,” Busch said.

“In any case, the agency has international partnerships that can help them understand what happened with the accident,” he added.

Plane crash victims all had Brazilian documents, airline officials say

All 57 passengers who were on board the plane that crashed in the city of Vinhedo on Friday had Brazilian documents, Voepass airline officials said in a news conference.

It was not yet clear if any passengers had dual citizenship, according to Voepass CEO Eduardo Busch and Director of Operations Marcel Moura.

The officials said that the company spent the afternoon securing hotels and psychologists for the victims’ families and providing them with support.

What we know, so far, about the plane crash that killed 61 people in Brazil

From CNN staff

Emergency personnel work close to the wreckage of the crashed plane in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on Friday, August 9. Miguel Schincariol/AFP/Getty Images

At least 61 people are dead after a passenger plane crashed outside São Paulo Friday afternoon, according to a statement issued by air company Voepass.

Dramatic footage circulating on social media showed the plane’s fall and its destroyed fuselage in flames on the ground.

Here’s what we know:

• The plane’s destination: Flight 2283 left Cascavel, in the Brazilian state of Paraná, and was headed to Guarulhos, in São Paulo state, according to Flightradar24 data. The plane crashed in a residential area of Vinhedo.
• The timeline: The aircraft took off shortly before noon local time, flight tracking data shows. The plane had been cruising at 17,000 feet until 1:21 p.m. local time when it dropped approximately 250 feet in 10 seconds. It then climbed approximately 400 feet in about eight seconds. Eight seconds later, it lost just under 2,000 feet. Then, in approximately one minute, it began rapidly descending — roughly 17,000 feet in just one minute.
• The victims: A medical team is onsite and working to identify the victims, the Security Secretary from São Paulo Guilherme Derrite said. Officials are contacting the family members of the passengers and will release the names of those on the plane soon, he said.
• The crash scene: Brazil’s Civil Defense said the aircraft crashed into multiple houses. No one was killed in the surrounding residential area, Valinhos City Communications Director Ana Cândida Briski said. Aerial images show the nose of the plane and burnt scraps of the plane littering the ground. Witnesses described hearing the plane before it crashed, with one person saying it fell on the roof of an elderly couple’s house.
• The investigation: Multiple agencies are at the scene of the crash and the Brazilian Air Force team will be in charge of the investigation, according to Vinhedo City Hall. Authorities have found the black box at the crash site, according to Derrite, which will help investigators determine what happened. Voepass said in a statement on its website that it had no information on what caused the crash.

Brazil’s security forces begin to remove bodies from crashed plane, government says

A police member stands guard near the scene of the plane crash on Friday, August 9, in Vinhedo, Brazil. Eduardo Carmim/Getty Images

Teams with the security forces of São Paulo have removed the first three bodies from the site of the Brazil plane crash, according to a statement released by the government of the state of São Paulo.

The bodies will be sent to the Central Forensic Medical Institute which “will be closed to work exclusively on the victims of the Vinhedo accident,” the statement read.

“To help identify the bodies, families must present any medical exams or documentation they have on the victims, such as radiological, medical and/or dental exams, to the Central Forensic Medical Institute,” the statement read. 

The Civil Defense of the State of São Paulo will also have a team available to provide support to the families of those killed in the crash, according to the statement.

Brazil’s president declares 3 days of mourning for victims of plane crash

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared three days of mourning in response to the plane crash that killed 61 people on Friday. 

Lula made the announcement on his X account. 

The governor of the state of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, and Vinhedo City Hall also declared three-day mourning periods to honor the victims of the crash earlier Friday.