Brazil Helicopter Crash Kills 6 Including Singer Oliver Tree
Collected Photo
Two helicopters collided on Sunday morning, killing all six passengers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One aircraft plunged into a car dealership’s parking lot in the city’s western zone.
The impact ignited a fire amongst several parked electric vehicles, which the Rio de Janeiro’s Military Fire Department successfully extinguished.
While officials have launched a formal investigation to determine the cause of the disaster, attention has turned to the high-profile names on the passenger manifest. Police confirmed that American singer and comedian Oliver Tree featured on the list provided to aviation authorities.
Although identification of the remains is still pending, Tree had recently shared footage of himself playing football in a Brazilian neighbourhood on Saturday.
The crash also claimed the life of 23-year-old Argentine content creator Gaspar Prim Díaz, widely known to his 2.8 million YouTube followers as Gaspi.
Argentine streaming channel Blender confirmed his presence on one of the flights. Honouring his memory on X, the channel posted, “Thanks for your art, your magic and your sensibility, every one of us will miss you.”
Witnesses near the scene described a scene of absolute chaos. Fernandes de Freitas, a local tire repair worker, recounted seeing one of the helicopters engulfed in flames following the strike.
He further noted that a passenger attempted to escape the tragedy by jumping from the other aircraft before it hit the ground. Describing the trauma of the event, De Freitas stated, “It was terrifying, absolutely horrifying.”
Source: The Associated Press (adapted)