Mystery 'undocumented' passenger was aboard crashed Brazilian plane (2024)

A mysterious unaccounted-for passenger was aboard the Brazilian plane that crashed in a 'death spiral' and killed 62 people, is has been revealed.

The plane, operated by regional carrier Voepass, crashed on Fridayin a residential area near Sao Paulo, Brazil, killing all passengers and crew members aboard.

On Friday Voepass said the plane was carrying 57 passengers and four crew, but on Saturday the firm confirmed another unaccounted-for passenger had been on the flight, putting the number of casualties at 62 - it is unclear whether this additional passenger was simply missed off the manifest or whether they snuck on board.

For now, the cause of the crash remains unknown. Metsul, one of Brazil's most respected meteorological companies, said Friday that there were reports of severe icing in Sao Paulo state around the time of the crash.

Local media cited experts pointing to that as a potential cause, although others cautioned against jumping to a conclusion, urging to wait for the outcome of the official investigation.

Both the plane's 'black boxes' - one with flight data and the other with co*ckpit audio - were recovered. The air force's center for the investigation and prevention of air accidents began analyzing them at its laboratory in the nation's capital, Brasilia.

Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho said the center was also opening a criminal probe. The airline Voepass and the French-Italian ATR manufacturer are assisting investigations, they said in statements.

The crashed plane was bound for Sao Paulo from Cascavel, in the state of Parana, and crashed at around 1.30pm (1630 GMT) in Vinhedo, some 50 miles northwest of Sao Paulo.

The aircraft was flying normally until 1.21pm, when it stopped responding to calls, and radar contact was lost at 1.22pm, Brazil's air force said in a statement. The plane did not report any emergency.

Videos of the event show that the sky was apparently clear when the plane started spiraling in an unusual circling motion before crashing.

To find out the cause for the crash, investigators would look at aspects like weather and examine to what extent the engines and controls were functioning properly, according to US aviationsafety expert Anthony Brickhouse.

Some aviation experts speculated that ice had built up on the plane after seeing a video of the spiraling aircraft.

On Friday, Voepass said ice was predicted at the altitudes in which the plane was flying, but that it should have been within an acceptable level.

Brazilian aviation engineer and crash investigator Celso Faria de Souza said he is almost certain ice caused the accident, judging from the video.

ATR-72 planes have experienced issues with icing, with a crash in 1994 in the U.S. state of Indiana killing 68, after the plane was unable to bank due to ice buildup.

After that incident, manufacturer ATR improved its de-icing system. In 2016 in Norway an ATR-72 experienced issues after ice accumulated on the plane, but the pilot was able to regain control.

John Hansman, a professor in the department of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reviewed some of the Brazil crash footage shared on social media and without having reviewed flight data said the crash did not appear to have been caused by weather.

It may have been an engine failure on one side, mismanaged by the crew, which would lead to the rotation downward, said Hansman.

The search for the cause of the crash comes as the remains of all 34 male and 28 female victims were recovered on Saturday.

Authorities are using seat assignments, physical characteristics, documents and belongings such as cell phones to identify the victims, firefighter Maycon Cristo said at the crash site earlier on Saturday as the bodies were being pulled from the wreckage.

Liz Ibba dos Santos, a 3-year-old girl who was traveling with her father, was the youngest passenger who died in the crash.

Josgleidys Gonzalez, 29, her four-year-old son Joslan and her mother Maria Gladys Parra also died on Voepass Flight 2283 alongside their six-month-old dog Luna.

Sao Paulo's morgue began receiving the bodies Friday evening, and it asked victims' relatives to bring in medical, X-ray and dental records to help identify the bodies. Blood tests were also done to help identification efforts.

The bodies of the pilot, Danilo Santos Romano, and his co-pilot, Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, were the first to be identified.

Another 10 have been identified since, local authorities said. One body is already set for burial, and another seven are expected to follow on Sunday, Sao Paulo's state government said.

Four professors at Unioeste university in western Paraná were confirmed dead. Eightcancer doctors were also among the passengers.

Six leading oncologists and two resident medics, in their final year of training, were on their way from their home city of Cascavel to a cancer conference in Sao Paulo when the twin-engine turboprop ATR 72-500 VoePass Airline flight crashed on Friday.

Eduardo Baptistella of the Regional Medical Council said: 'Unfortunately we received very sad news and were able to confirm the death of eight doctors.

'The doctors were going to an oncology conference. These were people who dedicated their lives to saving others.'

Some of the doctors' names began to emerge Friday night including radiologist Leonel Ferreira, pediatric cancer expert Sarah Stella and Silvia Osaki.

Mr Baptistella said 15 doctors had been scheduled to take the two-hour doomed flight but seven had taken an earlier plane.

One of the doctors was Arianne Risso, who worked every day to help her patients battle cancer.

Risso's cousin, Stephany Albuquerque, recalled in a phone interview that the two often played together when she was young.

Even then, Risso wanted to become a doctor and, as she grew older, applied herself so intensively to her studies that she rarely went out on the town. Medicine was her calling.

'Arianne treated people who were terminally ill at a time in their lives when they were struggling. But Arianne was always available and did everything with a lot of love,' Albuquerque told AP by phone from Florida, where she now lives.

'She wasn't the kind of doctor who would the tell the patient, 'This is your illness, take this.' No, Arianne took care of people. ... She would give out her personal phone number to patients.'

Risso, 34, was flying with her colleague Mariana Belim, 31. The two had been in residencies at Cascavel's cancer hospital, and a statement from the institution praised them for the conscientiousness, care and respect with which they treated their patients.

'It's no wonder that praise for them both would often reach us. Their love of the profession was very clear,' the hospital said.

Willian Rodrigo Feistler, a general practitioner who grew up in Cascavel, knew six people who died in the crash and was particularly close to Belim, with whom he studied and had maintained a 15-year friendship.

'Mariana was serene with a melancholic temperament, but very intelligent, empathetic and devoted to her profession,' Feistler said by phone from Cascavel. 'She dedicated much of her life to studies and medical training.

She had already specialized in clinical medicine and was completing her specialization in clinical oncology.'

José Roberto Leonel Ferreira, a recently retired doctor who also died in the fiery wreck, was one of Feistler's teachers during his undergraduate studies. He had a radiology clinic in Cascavel.

'I went over cases with him on several occasions. He was a receptive person who helped other doctors in the discussion of cases to reach diagnoses,' Feistler said.

Brazil's Federal Council of Medicine said the loss of the doctors left Brazil's medical world in mourning, and expressed its solidarity for the victims' friends and relatives.

They were venturing forth from Cascavel in search of knowledge as a means to better treat their patients, its statement said.

After footage of the devastating plane crash emerged, several people came forward saying they were supposed to be on the plane and could have been dead if they didn't miss their flight.

Adriano Assis had finished his shift at a hospital and was running late to catch the 11.56am flight at Cascavel Regional Airport in Cascavel, Paraná toSão Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo.

Assis told Brazilian news outlet G1 that he made it to the counter at 9.40am and noticed that there were no agents.

He stood nearby and had a coffee while constantly looking at the departure and arrival screen to see if there was any information available for flight 2283.

'When I decided it was already 10.30am, there was a huge line here,' he recalled. 'I waited until it was 10.40am or so. The guy said I wouldn't be boarding anymore because it was an hour before boarding.'

Assis said that he pleaded with the agent to allow to board his return flight to São Paulo.

'At that moment, I argued with him and stuff, and that was it, and he saved my life, man,' he said. 'He did his job because... if he hadn't done it... maybe I wouldn't be in this interview today, sorry.'

Another young man told the outlet that he and three friends were among 10 passengers who were waiting by the wrong gate and unable to board the flight.

'When it was 11 o'clock, I came looking here. When I looked I said, 'Man, you're not getting on that plane anymore',' he recalled.

He attempted to persuade one of the gate agents into allowing him inside the plane, but his tactics didn't work.

'I said, 'Girl, put me on this plane, I have to go, I have to go',' he said.'She said, 'No …What I can do for you is reschedule your flight.' So, she rescheduled it for 6.20pm.'