A passenger has disclosed how a cup of coffee spared him from boarding a doomed Voepass Airlines flight in Brazil that crashed, killing everyone on board. Dramatic footage captures the plane spiraling out of the sky before crashing near a cluster of trees in a populated area on Friday.
All 62 people aboard the Voepass Airlines flight—58 passengers and four crew—have been reported dead, though some families are still awaiting confirmation.
Adriano Assis, a man who narrowly missed the flight, revealed that after finishing his hospital shift, he arrived at the check-in counter too late and decided to get a coffee while waiting for updates on flight 2283 from Cascavel to São Paulo. His delay ultimately saved his life, according to Daily Mail.
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He missed his return flight to São Paulo after inadvertently giving himself too little time to check-in. By 10:40 a.m., an agent informed him that it was too late to board.
Assis pleaded with the agent to let him on the flight, but he was denied entry.
“At that moment, I argued with him and stuff, and that was it, and he saved my life, man,” he said to the Brazilian news outlet G1. “He did his job because… if he hadn’t done it… maybe I wouldn’t be in this interview today, sorry.”
The pilot of the doomed Voepass Airlines flight was identified as 35-year-old Captain Danilo Santos Romano, a seasoned aviator with a decade of experience. Based in São Paulo, Romano had logged over 4,500 flight hours and joined Voepass Airlines in 2022.
Colleagues remember him as always smiling and eager to help. Romano wrote in his LinkedIn profile description: “As an ATR72 Captain, I am responsible for the safety of passengers, cargo, and crew, as well as the maintenance of the aircraft’s airworthiness, to provide a secure, efficient, and economical flight.
“I am passionate about aviation and committed to delivering the best service to our customers and partners.”
The 35-year-old Palmeiras football fan and avid runner was at the helm when the Voepass Airlines plane spiraled down over a populated area and crashed behind a cluster of trees on Friday.
Witnesses described the horror of seeing the plane “fall out of the sky and explode,” as investigators work to uncover the cause of the tragedy.
“I almost believe the pilot tried to avoid a nearby neighbourhood, which is densely populated,” Daniel de Lima, a resident of Vinhedo near the crash site, told Reuters.
Voepass Airlines initially reported 57 passengers and four crew aboard the doomed flight but later confirmed an additional unaccounted-for passenger, bringing the total number of casualties to 62.
The airline stated that all those on board had Brazilian-issued documents. Among the passengers were doctors from Paraná traveling to a seminar, according to Governor Ratinho Junior.
“These were people who were used to saving lives, and now they’ve lost theirs in such tragic circumstances,” he said.
The Voepass Airlines plane was en route from Cascavel to Guarulhos, cruising at 17,000 feet when it suddenly began a rapid descent and crashed.
