Authorities rushing to the scene on Sunday said that a small single-engine plane crashed in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, killing at least seven passengers.
According to the AFP report, which cited firefighters, the plane was traveling from Campinas, in the nearby state of Sao Paulo, when it broke apart in midair and crashed in the mining town of Itapeva at around 10:30 am.
Before the department announced earlier that three bodies had been located, firefighters “found seven dead victims [who were] on board the aircraft,” according to a revised statement from the department.
Locals’ photos of the jet wreckage moments after it crashed into a grassy, tree-covered hillside went viral on social media and in Brazilian media.
This plane crash occurs after a tiny plane disaster in the Amazon that claimed the lives of fourteen people in September of last year.
Governor Wilson Lima of the Amazon state stated on social media that the disaster, which happened in the popular northern town of Barcelos, claimed the lives of twelve passengers and two crew members.
According to a news site G1, the aircraft was an 18-passenger Embraer EMB-110, a twin-engine turboprop built by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer.
It had been a ninety-minute trip from Manaus, the state capital, to Barcelos.
It is surrounded by numerous national parks and other protected areas. It is situated on the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon.
According to state security secretary Vinicius Almeida at the time, the passengers were Brazilians who were visiting the area for sport fishing, according to news site UOL.
At least three individuals were killed in an airplane accident that occurred in the thick Amazonian jungles earlier that year, including a mother whose children managed to survive the wild for over a month.
In the early hours of May 1, a Cessna 206 carrying seven persons filed a Mayday alert due to an engine failure while traveling between Araracuara, in the province of Amazonas, and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in the province of Guaviare.
