Small plane crashes into Brazil tourist city, 10 dead

A plane has crashed into a Brazilian tourist hotspot and killed 10 family members after it clipped the chimney of a second story building and burst into flames. The small aircraft, a Piper Cheyenne 400 turboprop, slammed into a commercial district in the city of Gramado in southern Brazil, civil defense authorities said. It was flown by a businessman named Luiz Claudio Salgueiro Galeazzi, police confirmed, and the passengers were all a part of his family.

DEFESA CIVIL INFORMA

Acidente em modal aéreo - múltiplas vítimas - COBRADE 2.5.5.0.0

Em 22/12/2024 às 10h

GRAMADO/RS

Um avião caiu na manhã de hoje (22) no centro urbano de Gramado/RS. Equipes de emergência atuam neste momento no local.

Preliminarmente, o avião… pic.twitter.com/egFOugR37G

— Defesa Civil Nacional (@defesacivilbr) December 22, 2024

Gramado is in the Serra Gaucha mountains and popular with Brazilian tourists. The town was settled by large numbers of German and Italian immigrants in the 19th century and is a popular spot for Christmas vacations, Local media reported that the plane was piloted by Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, a Brazilian businessman who was travelling with his family to Sao Paulo State.
In a statement on LinkedIn, Galeazzi's company, Galeazzi & Associados, confirmed that the 61-year-old was on the plane, adding that he was traveling with his wife, their three daughters, several other family members and another company employee, who died in the crash.