A passenger plane carrying 62 people has crashed in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The twin-engine turboprop plane was flying from Cascavel in the southern state of Paraná to the main airport in São Paulo city when it came down in the town of Vinhedo.
Footage broadcast by TV GloboNews showed a large area on fire and smoke appearing to billow from an apparent plane fuselage.
Airline Voepass Linhas Aereas is yet to confirm how many passengers have died and have been injured, it says 62 people were on the airplane. It is unclear what caused it to plunge to the ground.
The airline said in a statement: “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.
“There is still no confirmation of how the accident occurred or the current situation of the people on board. The Company is providing support via telephone at 0800 9419712, available 24 hours a day, providing information to all its passengers, family members and employees.”
Police and fire services are at the scene and local hospitals have been alerted.
According to tracking website Flightradar24, the plane was built in 2010 and left Cascavel at 11:56 local time (14:56 GMT).
The last signal received from the aircraft was about an hour and a half later.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, held a minute’s silence at an event he was speaking.
He posted on social media that the news of the crash was “Very sad”. “All my solidarity to the families and friends of the victims.”
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