•Wreckage of the crashed plane
A small plane crashed into the side of a building in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte today, killing the pilot and copilot, firefighters said.
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.
