TOCANTINS, BRAZIL - A small aircraft crashed Wednesday afternoon (30) in a rural area of Divinópolis do Tocantins, in the western part of the state, killing the two people on board. The victims were identified as the aircraft's pilot and owner, 38-year-old Diego Arantes Rezende, and 45-year-old businessman Ebert Rodrigues Sousa.

The aircraft, an Embraer EMB 810D Seneca III, registration PT-RSN, had departed from Goiânia, Goiás state, bound for Pará and stopped in Gurupi, in southern Tocantins, to refuel. According to information provided by Cenipa to the Fire Department, the final destination was Fazenda Serra Grande, in Pará state.

The crash occurred in the Mulher Cidadã settlement, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) from Palmas. Residents reported seeing the plane flying low before hearing a loud impact. A witness told military police that they heard an explosion and saw the aircraft begin to fall.

Rescue teams were called at about 1:10 p.m. and located the aircraft at 5:36 p.m. after ground searches and drone operations. The plane was found destroyed and upside down in a densely forested area. Because of the condition of the wreckage, firefighters had to cut through parts of the fuselage to remove the bodies, completing the operation at about 10:30 p.m.

The Tocantins Civil Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the flight and the deaths, while the investigation into the cause of the crash is the responsibility of the Brazilian Air Force, through the relevant agencies.

Amazon Agency