Two people killed and at least six injured after a small plane, Beechcraft King Air F90, crashed into a moving bus in the busy district Barra Funda of São Paulo, Southern Brazil on Friday, February 7.
The plane and a public bus exploded on impact.
Pieces of the aircraft flew off as thick, dark plumes of smoke rose into the air.
The local fire department struggled to stop the flames from spreading. According to them, the tragic crash happened around 7:20 a.m. local time after the plane tried to perform an emergency landing five minutes after taking off from Campo de Marte Airport.
Emergency services found two bodies in the wreckage of the aircraft. A motorcyclist and a woman on the bus were injured by the flying debris, and four others suffered minor injuries. The rest of the people on the bus were taken out to safety.
According to reports, prior to the incident, the control tower lost contact with the plane.
Governor Tarcísio de Freitas posted on X that the two people who lost their lives were the pilot, Gustavo Medeiros, and the owner of the aircraft, Márcio Carpena.
The plane’s final destination was Porto Alegre, located in the southern of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The investigation regarding the circumstances that led to the crash is ongoing.
According to witnesses, the plane first clipped a tree before it crashed into the busy street where it collided with the moving bus.
As per Business News Today, an expert said the accident could be a result of technical issues, considering the pilot’s desperate attempt to force a landing. “When an aircraft loses power or suffers mechanical failure shortly after departure, the pilot’s options are limited. Urban environments like São Paulo make emergency landings even more hazardous,” the expert said, as per the publication.
Sadly, in recent years, Brazil witnessed several high-profile accidents. This raised the question of the safety of the country’s aviation, aircraft maintenance, pilot training, as well as regulatory oversight.
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