Plane with 62 on board crashes in Brazil's São Paulo state

BBC, Aug 10: A plane carrying 58 passengers and four crew has crashed in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

The twin-engine turboprop plane was flying from Cascavel in the southern state of Paraná to the main airport in São Paulo city when it came down in the town of Vinhedo, the Voepass airline said.

Footage circulating on social media showed a plane descending vertically, spiralling as it fell.

"There is still no confirmation of how the accident occurred or the current situation of the people on board," the airline said in a statement.

Local authorities said the plane landed on a residential building.

Brazil's GloboNews television network showed pictures of a large area on fire and smoking wreckage in an area full of houses.

Police and fire services are at the scene and local hospitals have been alerted.

According to tracking website Flightradar24, the plane was built in 2010 and left Cascavel at 11:56 local time (14:56 GMT). The last signal received from the aircraft was about an hour and a half later.

Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, held a minute's silence at an event he was speaking at.

He posted on social media the news of the crash was “Very sad. All my solidarity to the families and friends of the victims.”