16 September 2023 , 21:34
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Horrifying reports are coming in from Brazil of a plane that has crashed killing all 14 passengers on board. It was said to have been transporting tourists to the Barcelos region in Amazonas.
Brazilian online newspaper Metrópoles initially reported there were US tourists among the 14 victims of the crash, but authorities have since declared all 14 were Brazilian.
The secretary of the Civil Defense of the state of Amazonas, which contains the Amazon rainforest, confirmed the tragedy to reporters and said a response team has been dispatched.
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Footage is emerging on Twitter of the crashed plane (choquei/Twitter)A spokesperson for Barcelos city hall said 12 of those on board were passengers, while the pilot and co-pilot also perished in the horror crash. The tragedy is believed to have occurred when the plane was landing, and amid very heavy rain.
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The plane crashed in the afternoon local time and was transporting passengers to the Barcelos region in Amazonas.
It was described as an air taxi-style plane.
The plane has crashed in Barcelos, Amazonas, Brazil (choquei/Twitter)A spokesperson for the governor of Amazonas, Wilson Lima, said the plane took off from Manaus bound for Marcelos, 400 kilometres away.
The area is popular with tourists keen on sports fishing at this time of year.
Weather conditions are adverse and the pilot may have made an error when laying out the landing strip, portalt5.com reported.
Emergency services have been despatched to the scene (choquei/Twitter)The victims' bodies have been removed from the scene and are being taken to an auditorium at a local school, as there is no cold storage facility in the city.
And on Sunday morning, a Brazilian Air Force aircraft is set to arrive in Barcelos to transport the bodies back to their families.
A crisis office has been established by the government of Amazonas to deal with the fallout from the tragedy and a Civil Defense team has arrived in Barcelos to help.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian Air Force is also helping to investigate the accident and will try to work out how it happened.
The heavy rain in the area has cut off electricity for parts of the city and made communication difficult, the governor's office said.
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An initial version of this report wrongly stated US tourists were believed to have been among the dead. It has since been updated as officials in the area corrected the information being put out.