A passenger plane has crashed in a fiery wreck in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state killing all 61 people on board, an airline has confirmed.
The plane crashed into a gated residential community in Vinhedo, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north-west of Sao Paulo.
Airline Voepass earlier reported 62 people were on board, but later updated the number to 61.
"The company regrets to inform that all 61 people on board flight 2283 died at the site," Voepass said in a statement on Friday night (UK time).
"At this time, Voepass is prioritising provision of unrestricted assistance to the victims' families and effectively collaborating with authorities to determine the causes of the accident."
Voepass said the plane - a regional turboprop aircraft - had been headed for Sao Paulo's international airport Guarulhos.
Video shared on social media appeared to show the plane plummeting to the ground, disappearing behind a cluster of trees near some houses, before a large plume of black smoke issued high into the air.
The video of the crash - which happened around 1.30pm local time (5.30pm in the UK) also appeared to show clear weather. The forecast for the area predicted light rainfall and winds of just 10km per hour (6 mph).
Nearby resident Daniel de Lima said he heard a loud noise before looking outside his condominium in Vinhedo when he saw the plane in a horizontal spiral.
"It was rotating, but it wasn't moving forward," he told news agency Reuters. "Soon after it fell out of the sky and exploded.
City officials at Valinhos, near Vinhedo, said there were no survivors and only one home in the local condominium complex had been damaged while none of the residents were hurt.
“I almost believe the pilot tried to avoid a nearby neighborhood, which is densely populated,” Mr de Lima added.
Footage appeared to show a large fire, and smoke coming out of what appeared to be the wrecked fuselage of the plane.
The ATR-72 plane operated by airline Voepass Linhas Areas was en route from Cascavel, in the state of Parana, to Guarulhos, in Sao Paulo, website G1 said, citing Voepass.
Sao Paulo's state fire brigade confirmed on social media that a plane crashed in Vinhedo, and that it had sent seven crews to the region of the accident.At an event in southern Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked the crowd to stand and observe a minute of silence as he shared the news. He said it appeared that all passengers and crew aboard had died.
The crash is Brazil's deadliest since 199 people were killed in 2007 on a flight operated by TAM, which later joined LAN to become what is now LATAM Airlines.
