May 4 - A small airplane with five people on board collided with a residential building on Monday in the city of Belo Horizonte in southeastern Brazil, local officials and firefighters reported.
The fire department said the aircraft's pilot and co-pilot were killed in the impact. Three passengers were pulled from the wreckage and taken to hospital in serious condition, the department added.
Initial reports had indicated four people were on board. Hours later, the Minas Gerais state government provided an updated account saying that one of the injured passengers died after being admitted to hospital. The statement said the remaining two passengers were still hospitalized and in stable condition.
Firefighters also reported that no residents of the building were injured and that the structure did not suffer any structural damage. The airplane struck a three-story residential building, according to the fire department's account.
Officials said the aircraft departed early in the afternoon from Pampulha Airport, which is about 8 km (5 miles) from central Belo Horizonte, bound for Sao Paulo. The plane remained airborne for only a few minutes before it crashed into the building.
Sequence of events
According to official statements, the flight left Pampulha Airport and was airborne for a very short time prior to the collision with the three-story residential building. Emergency crews arrived on scene to rescue occupants from the aircraft and to attend to any residents, and the injured were transported to hospital.
Official condition updates
The fire department's initial casualty count and the later update from the state government differed in detail: the fire service reported the two crew members were killed and three passengers were rescued, while the state government later confirmed that one of those passengers had died in hospital, bringing the confirmed death toll to three.
Authorities said there were no injuries among building residents and no structural damage to the property, as reported by the fire department.
What is known and what remains unclear
The publicly released information establishes the basic facts of the incident - departure from Pampulha Airport, a very brief time aloft, a crash into a three-story residential building, fatalities among the pilot and co-pilot and a passenger death in hospital, plus two remaining hospitalized passengers reported stable. Official sources also stated there were no resident injuries or structural damage to the building.
Beyond those points, officials have not provided additional details about the cause of the crash or other technical aspects, and official accounts included an initial discrepancy on the number of people aboard that was later clarified.