A passenger plane carrying 62 people has crashed in a populous city in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, leaving no survivors, local authorities have claimed.
Emergency services including military police and civil defence authorities rushed to a residential area in the city of Vinhedo, home to more than 80,100 people, where the aircraft crashed.
It is not yet clear if people living in the area were left injured by the crash.
Harrowing clips shared on social media and by local broadcaster GloboNews showed the aircraft drifting downward and spiralling towards the ground.
A massive column of thick black smoke erupted from the area of the incident, and the footage also appeared to show a large fire engulfing the fuselage of the ATR-72 plane, operated by Voepass.
The Voepass Linhas Aereas airline said there were four crew members and 58 passengers aboard the plane at the moment of the crash.
A statement by the airline read: “The aircraft took off from Cascavel-PR bound for Guarulhos Airport, with 58 passengers and four crew members on board. VOEPASS has taken all measures to support those involved.”
The company also said it was providing “support via telephone at 0800 9419712, available 24 hours a day, providing information to all its passengers, family members and employees”.
The airline didn’t give any indication as to what may have caused the incident.
In its statement, Voepass also said it didn’t have confirmation about the situation of the people on board, but the city hall in Valinhos, a municipality close to Vinhedo, has since claimed no person on the aircraft had survived the crash.
As stated by Voepass, the aircraft had departed from Cascavel, in the state of Parana. Data from Flightradar24 suggest the plane had taken off shortly before 12pm and was due to land one hour and 50 minutes later in Guarulhos International Airport, in the Sao Paolo state.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, as he was speaking at an event in the south of the country, that it appeared all passengers and crew members aboard the aircraft had died. He later asked the crowd to observe a minute of silence for those involved in the incident.