The tragedy that took place on Monday was caught on video by witnesses and security cameras. In the footage provided to the media by the Reuters press agency, it can be seen how a single-engine EMB-721C Sertanejo machine flies over the Silveira district and loses altitude.
The pilot took off from the local airport five minutes earlier, while immediately after takeoff he reported unspecified technical problems to the control tower. After three minutes of flight, the plane, manufactured in 1979, began to lose altitude and continued to descend for another two minutes, until it crashed into a three-story residential building, O Globo reported.
Video shows the destruction of an apartment hit by a small plane in Belo Horizonte, nesta segunda (4). Duas pessoas morreram no accidente
Credit: Corpo de Bombeiros MG pic.twitter.com/2aIu2x3eyq
— Jornal O Dia (@jornalodia) May 4, 2026
No one was injured in the house, because the machine crashed at full speed in the place under the roof, where there is a corridor with a staircase. At the same time, there were people in the apartments who were evacuated by the police.
Firefighters intervened on the spot and sprayed foam on the spilled fuel to prevent a possible explosion.
Thirty-four-year-old pilot Wellington Oliveira and the second pilot, 36-year-old Fernando Souto Moreira, died on the spot. Later, one of the passengers also succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. The remaining two passengers underwent emergency surgery and according to doctors, their condition is stable.
The plane, which was originally headed for São Paulo, 400 kilometers away, crashed into a house located only 600 meters from the school. The tragedy could have had much worse consequences.
The exact cause of the accident is not yet clear, it is being investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority.
