Air taxi crashes near Sao Paulo, killing all 5 on board

USPA News - Five people, including a family of four, were killed in southern Brazil on Saturday when a helicopter operating as an air taxi crashed and exploded, local authorities said, adding that there were no survivors. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

The accident happened at around 10 a.m. local time when the single-engine Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel aircraft, operated by Air Taxi Helimarte, crashed in a dense forest near the Rio - Santos highway in the municipality of Bertioga, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of São Paulo. São Paulo Military Police said the aircraft was carrying a family of four, among them two adults and two children, in addition to the pilot, but no survivors were found. The identities of the victims were not immediately released. The aircraft had taken off from a heliport at a housing complex in Bertioga and was bound for São Paulo, officials said.. Photos from the scene showed most of the aircraft had been destroyed in an explosion and fire.