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Small Plane Hits Belo Horizonte Apartment Block, Killing Three

Investigators are probing the cause following the pilot's takeoff distress call.

Overview

  • Minutes after departing Pampulha Airport on Monday for São Paulo, the five‑seat aircraft crashed into a residential building, leaving three dead and two injured.
  • The pilot reported takeoff problems to the control tower before the plane circled low over the Silveira neighborhood and struck a three‑story building, as TV Globo video showed.
  • Firefighters said the impact punched into the stairwell between the third and fourth floors, residents were evacuated, and no one inside the apartments was hurt.
  • Authorities opened parallel probes led by CENIPA and SERIPA III with support from the Brazilian Air Force and the Civil Police of Minas Gerais.
  • Records identify the aircraft as a 1979 EMB‑721C privately registered to Flavio Loureiro Salgueiro, and Brazil’s 2025 tally of 153 air accidents is likely to refocus attention on small‑plane safety in urban areas.