At least 50 bodies were recovered after the disaster

At least 50 bodies have been found at the site of a plane crash in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, with everyone on board dead.

Crews have been working to locate and identify victims of the disaster after a twin-engine turboprop operated by Voepass Airlines went down in the town of Vinhedo.

The death toll was revised to 62 on Saturday.

Voepass said that earlier the ATR 72-500 was carrying 57 passengers and four crew between Cascavel in the southern state of Paraná to Guarulhos Airport in the city of São Paulo. But later it confirmed that there was another unidentified passenger on the plane.

Images circulating on social media showed the plane descending vertically, spinning as it fell.

The plane crashed in a residential area, but no one was injured on the ground. Officials say there is only one damaged house in the area.

Fire department spokesperson Capt. Maycon Cristo said that so far two people have been identified through evidence found at the scene.

The mayor of Vinhedo, Dario Pacheco, said that the two victims identified were the pilot and his assistant.

He went on to say that all the bodies are expected to be removed by the end of Saturday.

Teams were relying on multiple clues to help identify the passengers, said Capt. Cristo.

This includes documents and the position of the authorities in relation to the residence, as well as mobile phones found in some of the victims.

He added that the injured were transported to the São Paulo police morgue.

Lt. Ramatuel Silvino of the São Paulo Civil Protection Unit said the family members will be staying in a hotel in the city.

The worst plane crash in Brazil since 2007, where TAM Express plane crashes and bursts into flames at Sao Paulo airport in Congonhas199 people died.

At this time, it is not known what caused the ATR 72-500 to crash.

Authorities said the flight records were retrieved.

ATR, the French and Italian aircraft manufacturer, said it would cooperate with the investigation.

According to the Flightradar24 tracking website, flight 2283 took off from Cascavel at 11:56 local time (14:56 GMT) on Friday and was due to arrive at 13:40.

The last signal received from the plane was about 20 minutes before it landed.

Brazil’s civil aviation body said the plane, which was built in 2010, was “in good working condition, with valid registration and airworthiness certificates”.

The four crew members on board at the time of the accident were all properly licensed and qualified, it added.

The Uopeccan cancer hospital in Cascavel told BBC Brasil that two of its trainee doctors were among the passengers who died.

When the passenger plane crashed, local residents were seen, while others described the damage to their homes.

Luiz Augusto de Oliveira told Reuters that he, his wife and their maid were at home when “suddenly we saw a plane explode behind my house”.

He said: “When it crashed, we thought it was a helicopter breaking down because of the noise.”

He added that everyone in the house was unharmed and although there was some damage, “as little as possible, it was physical property. I just have to thank God for the way the plane crashed.”

Another resident, Nathalie Cicari, told CNN Brasil that she was having lunch when she heard “a very loud noise nearby”, describing it as the sound of a drone but “much louder”.

“I went out to the balcony and saw the plane spinning. Within seconds, I realized it was not a normal plane movement.”

The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, expressed solidarity with the families and friends of the victims at the event where he spoke.

“I have to bear very bad news and I would like everyone to stand up so we can have a moment of silence,” he told his audience.

He wrote on social media that the news of the accident is “very sad.” “All my solidarity is with the families and friends of the victims,” ​​he said.

The Governor of the state of São Paulo, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, announced three days of mourning.