Four firefighters, a doctor and a nurse died in a plane crash when the helicopter carrying them crashed in the mountains of Ouro Preto, in central Minas Gerais, the region's authorities announced today.
In a statement, the local fire department said that the helicopter was in service on Friday afternoon when it lost contact with headquarters, which led to the activation of the search and rescue protocol in the area corresponding to the last coordinates communicated by the aircraft.
At a press conference, a spokesperson for the fire department said that the weather conditions were adverse at the time and that, after twelve hours of intense searching, the aircraft was located destroyed “in an area that is difficult to access”, along with the bodies of the entire crew.
He also said that, during the last contact, the pilot reported that visibility was low and that the safety conditions for returning were not met.
According to the firefighters, the helicopter was in perfect condition to carry out the search mission for which it was assigned and, in principle, the accident was due to external factors.
The crashed helicopter was searching for a single-engine agricultural plane that had crashed earlier, leaving one dead and causing a fire at the crash site, which is now under control.
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