Two dead as aircraft crashes into building in Brazil

Three other occupants of the aircraft were seriously wounded after the dramatic crash, which was filmed by a news helicopter.

The footage showed the private single-engine Embraer plane flying low above the rooftops of the city before it swerved past taller buildings and smashed into the corner of a three-story structure, collapsing in the parking lot.

Firefighters in the state of Minas Gerais said the pilot and copilot had died and three other passengers had been taken to the hospital in “critical condition”.

No one inside the building was injured, they added.

A fire department official told G1, a news company, that the plane had hit the building’s stairwell.

“If it had struck the sides it could have hit a home, those apartments were occupied,” he said.

Small plane crashes are common in Brazil, the world’s fifth-largest country.

According to statistics from the Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), there were 153 aircraft accidents in the country in 2025, with 62 people killed.

AFP