Off The Record
Man Who Was Stopped From Boarding Plane That Crashed In Brazil, Killing Everyone On Board, Breaks Down In Tears: ‘He Saved My Life’
A passenger who was supposed to board the aircraft that went down in Brazil has revealed his close encounter with death.
On Friday, August 9, tragedy befell the group of 61 people on board VoePass Flight 2283 when it crashed into a gated community near Vinhedo, near Sao Paulo, Brazil, killing everyone on board.
The small Brazilian airline confirmed in a statement that there were 57 passengers and four crew members on the flight, as reported by Sky News.
“The company regrets to inform you that all 61 people on board flight 2283 died at the site,” Voepass stated. “At this time, Voepass is prioritizing the provision of unrestricted assistance to the victims’ families and effectively collaborating with authorities to determine the causes of the accident,” they stated.
The aircraft departed Cascavel Airport at 11:46 AM local time, according to CBS News, with a destination of Guarulhos, the international airport serving São Paulo. The airplane started to descend at 1:21 PM after reaching an altitude of 16,404 feet at 12:23 PM.
Social media users posted horrifying video of the airplane that appeared to be out of control before it crashed behind a stand of trees near some homes.
Officials confirmed that no one on the ground was hurt and that it did not land on any homes.
“It fell next to a house, on a lot,” Dario Pacheco, Vinhedo’s mayor, said, per the New York Times. “Just next to it, the resident said he woke up to a noise and left running, and that all the people around also left, fearing an explosion.”
One man, Adriano Assis, disclosed that he was running late for the deadly flight, even though it was supposed to depart after his shift at a hospital.
He arrived at the counter at 9:40 AM but noticed that there were no agents there, so he waited and watched the departure/arrival screen to see if there was any information available for the aircraft, according to the Daily Mail. He made this revelation to the Brazilian news channel G1.
“When I decided it was already 10:30 am, there was a huge line here,” he recalled. “I waited until it was 10:40 am or so. The guy said I wouldn’t be boarding anymore because it was an hour before boarding.”
Assis said that he begged the agent to let him 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.”
Watch Assis’ interview below:
Ten people were waiting by the incorrect gate and were unable to board the flight, according to another man who was supposed to board, along with three of his buddies.
“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, adding that he tried to persuade one of the gate agents to allow him inside the plane, but it 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 6:20 pm.”
FlightRadar24 said on X (formerly Twitter) that there was an “active warning for severe icing” between 12,000 feet and 21,000 feet in the area where the plane crashed.
They said that the plane’s transponder showed a vertical speed of between 8,000 and 24,000 feet per minute in the last minute of flight.
Expert in Brazilian aviation Lito Sousa said that icing might have played a role in the incident, but it’s too soon to draw any judgments.
“There is no accident or an air crash that is caused by a sole factor,” he said. “We need a chain of events for something bad to happen. So in that case, ice may have played a role.”
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, offered his sympathies and called for a minute of silence in honor of the deaths on Friday.
“We just have to mourn and care for the families, care for the people who are now going to be very nervous,” he told reporters at an event. “Lots of sadness in the air.”
An investigating team from the Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Center was sent from São Paulo, according to the Brazilian Air Force.
We are sending prayers to the families of everyone involved in this terrible accident.
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