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30-10-2023
BRASILIA: At least 12 people including an infant have died after a small plane crashed in the northwestern Brazilian state of Acre, according to authorities.
A statement by the Acre state government on Sunday said the plane was a single-engine Cessna Caravan, and it crashed near the Rio Branco airport.
All 10 passengers, nine adults and an infant as well as the pilot and the co-pilot all died at the scene, it said, adding that there will be an investigation. It remains unclear what the passengers’ nationalities are.
The plane was headed to Envira, a small town in the neighboring Amazonas state of Brazil. It was reportedly operated by local firm ART Taxi Aereo.
Citing local media, the media reported that the plane erupted in flames on impact and caused a forest fire in a remote area near Brazil’s border with Peru and Bolivia.
This is the second such incident in less than two months, as 14 people had perished onboard a small jet that crashed in Amazonas state in September. All the victims of that crash, 12 passengers and two crew members were Brazilian tourists.
The aircraft crashed as it was approaching the tourist town of Barcelos in heavy rain with low visibility, according to officials.
In last month, fourteen people on a small jet died when the plane crashed in Brazil’s northern Amazonas state.
The aircraft’s pilot approached the tourist town of Barcelos in heavy rain with low visibility, and appeared to inadvertently start landing halfway down the runway, Amazonas state security secretary Vinicius Almeida told a news conference.
The plane ran out of the landing strip and crashed, he added. Media reports showed the white jet belly-down on a dirt track, its front end crumpled into dense vegetation.
“I deeply regret the death of the 12 passengers and two crew members who were victims of the plane crash in Barcelos on Saturday,” said Wilson Lima, governor of Amazonas state, on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Our teams have been working from the outset to provide the necessary support. My sympathy and prayers go out to their families and friends.”
In an interview with O Globo newspaper, Lima said the bodies were removed from the aircraft and all the victims were Brazilian tourists.
The region faces heavy rainfall and the most likely cause of the accident was an error in the route taken at the time of landing, Lima added. (Int’l News Desk)
