Five dead after small plane crashes in Brazil

by IANS |

Sao Paulo, Aug 16 (IANS) Five people died when a twin-engine plane crashed into a farm in the Amazonian town of Apiacas in Brazil's Mato Grosso state.The victims were Arni Spiering, agri-business owner and former president of the Union Sports Club, a football club, two of his grandchildren, an employee of his company, and the pilot, Brazil's GloboNews network reported, citing the Militarized Police on Thursday.The twin-engine King Air plane, with a capacity for seven people, was on its way to the city of Rondonopolis from the exclusive Pousada Amazonia Fishing Lodge when it crashed and exploded upon impact, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Brazilian Air Force said experts from the Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Center were dispatched to Apiacas to investigate the causes of the accident.The crash comes less than a week after a plane operated by air carrier Voepass crashed in the city of Vinhedo, in southeast Sao Paulo state, killing all the 62 people on board.