Medical plane crashes into house in Brazil, killing 5 people

USPA News - A small plane transporting an elderly patient and her relatives crashed into a house in northeastern Brazil on early Sunday, killing all five people on board the aircraft, officials said on Monday. A family inside the residence narrowly escaped injury.

The accident happened at around 6:20 a.m. local time on Sunday when the single-engine Embraer EMB-720C aircraft crashed into a house in Balsas, a city in the state of Maranhão, about 900 kilometers (560 miles) northeast of Brasilia. The aircraft was flying from Balsas to Teresina, the capital of the state of Piauí. State police said the accident happened only minutes after the plane took off from Balsas Airport, causing it to crash into a house about 300 meters (984 feet) from the runway. "The plane was quiet, stopped and fell. Then I saw a flash," said local resident Noé de Oliveira, as quoted by Brazilian newspaper O Globo. Authorities said all five people on board the aircraft were killed. The victims were identified as 36-year-old pilot Delano Martins Coelho, his 22-year-old fiancée and nurse, Lorena Alves de Lima, as well as 87-year-old patient Maria de Jesus Cruz e Silva who was being flown to a hospital in Teresina for treatment. The woman`s daughter, Francisca Pereira e Silva, and grandson, Alan Patrick Silva Setulvedo, were also on board. A family of three who lives in the house told local media how they narrowly escaped injury when the plane crashed into their house as they slept. Their 11-year-old son was supposed to sleep in the bedroom which was destroyed in the crash, but a decision by his mother last night saved his life. "Our son asked, `Mom, let me sleep with you"`, and my husband said, `No, you have your own room.` But he was sad, so I decided to get him and put his mattress in our room, and it was a miracle that saved his life," mother Sabrina Ertel, 32, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. None of the family members were hurt. Balsas Mayor Luiz Rocha Filho declared three days of mourning for the victims.