UPDATES WITH INFORMATION ON CASUALTIES; CHANGES HEAD, DECK, LEDE; EDITS THROUGHOUT
By Jorge Antonio Rocha
MEXICO CITY (AA) — All passengers and crew members on a commercial airliner carrying 62 people died on Friday in a plane crash in Brazil's state of Sao Paolo, local authorities announced.
A total of 58 passengers and four crew members died in the crash, with the plane identified as Voepass flight 2283 went down near a home in Vinhedo, northwest of the state capital, according to Osmir Cruz, the city's secretary of security. Nobody on the ground was injured, added Cruz.
The aircraft, a light ATR-72-500 with a capacity of 68, crashed in the Capela neighborhood at around 1.28 p.m. local time (1628GMT), local media outlets reported.
It had departed from the city of Cascavel, in Parana state, and was bound for Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo further northeast.
Reports from aircraft tracking platform Flightradar showed that the flight had lost approximately 4,000 meters (about 13,100 feet) of altitude in the span of about a minute.
Hospitals in Vinhedo, and the neighboring city of Valinhos, are mobilized to treat possible injured, with fire departments, military police, and civil protection units arriving at the scene.
At an event, President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva called for a minute of silence after learning of the deaths of the 62 people in Sao Paulo.
"Very sad news. All my solidarity with the families and friends of the victims," Lula said in a video shared on X.
Brazilian airline Voepass Linhas Aereas issued a statement of support for authorities involved in attending the injured and said the cause of the incident was unknown.
"Voepass used all means to support those involved," said the statement.