World
Families of Brazilian plane crash victims gather in Sao Paulo as experts work to identify the dead
SAO PAULO (AP) — Families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil are gathering Sunday at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as forensics experts work to identify the remains of the 62 people killed in the accident.
Local authorities said the bodies of the pilot, Danilo Santos Romano, and his co-pilot, Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, were the first to be identified by forensics experts.
Sao Paulo state government said in a statement Saturday evening that the remains of all the victims had been recovered. There were 34 male and 28 female bodies in the wreckage, it said.
The ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop operated by Brazilian airline Voepass was headed for Guarulhos international airport in Sao Paulo with 58 passengers and four crew members when it went down Friday in Vinhedo, 78 kilometers (49 miles) north of the metropolis. Voepass said three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese.
At least eight physicians were aboard, Paraná state Gov. Ratinho Júnior said. Four professors at Unioeste university in western Paraná were also confirmed dead.
Three-year-old Liz Ibba dos Santos, who was travelling with her father, was the only child known to be on passenger list. The remains of Luna, a dog that was traveling with a Venezuelan family, was found in the wreckage.
Sao Paulo’s morgue began receiving the bodies Friday evening, and it asked victims’ relatives to bring in medical, X-ray and dental records to help identify the bodies. Blood tests were also done to help identification efforts.
The few family members speaking about the tragedy did so on social media.
Tânia Azevedo, who lost her son Tiago in the crash, was put up in one of the hotels in Sao Paulo, but said in a posting that she was waiting to go to the morgue.
“I believe Tiago is somewhere trying to help the other people wounded who also need light and love,” she said. “I couldn’t go there (to the morgue). I am here waiting. It is dark here, I need some light and love myself.”
Images recorded by witnesses showed the aircraft in a flat spin and plunging vertically before smashing to the ground inside a gated community, and leaving an obliterated fuselage consumed by fire. Residents said there were no injuries on the ground.
It was the world’s deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that stalled and crashed while making its landing approach. That plane also was an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.
Metsul, one of Brazil’s most respected meteorological companies, said Friday there were reports of severe icing in Sao Paulo state around the time of the crash. Local media cited experts pointing to icing as a potential cause for the accident.
A video shared on social media channels Saturday shows a Voepass pilot telling passengers of a flight from Guarulhos to the city of Cascavel, the same origin of the crashed plane, that the ATR 72 has flown safely around the world for decades. He also asked passengers to be respectful to the memory of his colleagues and the company and asked for prayers.
“This tragedy doesn’t hit only those who perished in this accident. It hits all of us,” the unidentified pilot said. “We are giving all our hearts, all our best to be here and fulfill our mission to take you safely and comfortably to your destination.”
Police restricted access to the main entrance of the Sao Paulo morgue where bodies from the crash were being identified. Some family members of the victims arrived on foot, others came in minivans. None spoke to journalists, and authorities requested that they not be filmed as they came.
A flight carrying more family members from Paraná state landed Saturday afternoon at Guarulhos airport, and they also chose not to speak to journalists. A minivan sponsored by the airline was provided to transport them to the morgue.
Many family members were gathering at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo, and declining to speak to media there, too.
An American Eagle ATR 72-200 crashed on Oct. 31, 1994, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause was ice buildup while the plane was circling in a holding pattern. The plane rolled at about 8,000 feet and dove into the ground, killing all 68 people on board. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued operating procedures for ATRs and similar planes telling pilots not to use the autopilot in icing conditions.
Brazilian aviation expert Lito Sousa cautioned that meteorological conditions alone might not be enough to explain why the Voepass plane fell in the manner it did Friday.
“Analyzing an air crash just with images can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Sousa told The Associated Press by phone. “But we can see a plane with loss of support, no horizontal speed. In this flat spin condition, there’s no way to reclaim control of the plane.”
Brazil’s air force said Saturday that both of the plane’s flight recorders had been sent to its analysis laboratory in the capital, Brasilia. The results of its investigations are expected to be published within 30 days, it said.
Marcelo Moura, director of operations for Voepass, told reporters Friday night that while there were forecasts for ice, they were within acceptable levels for the aircraft.
In an earlier statement, the Brazilian air force’s center for the investigation and prevention of air accidents said the plane’s pilots did not call for help or say they were operating under adverse weather conditions.
The ATR 72, which is built by a joint venture of Airbus in France and Italy’s Leonardo SpA. is generally used on shorter flights. Crashes involving various models of the ATR 72 have resulted in 470 deaths going back to the 1990s, according to a database of the Aviation Safety Network.
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Pollastri reported from Vinhedo.
HONOLULU (AP) — The on-and-off eruption that’s been dazzling residents and visitors on Hawaii’s Big Island for nearly a year resumed Tuesday as Kilauea volcano sent fountains of lava soaring 400 feet (122 meters) into the air.
The molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No homes were threatened.
It’s the 37th time Kilauea has shot lava since last December, when the current eruption began.
The latest lava display was preceded by sporadic spattering and overflows that began Friday. Each eruptive episode has lasted about a day or less. The volcano has paused for at least a few days in between.
In some cases, Kilauea’s lava towers have soared as high as skyscrapers. The volcano has generated such tall fountains in part because magma — which holds gases that are released as it rises — has been traveling to the surface through narrow, pipelike vents.
Kilauea is on Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s about 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of the state’s largest city, Honolulu, which is on Oahu.
It’s one of the world’s most active volcanoes and one of six active volcanoes in Hawaii.
World
Russia warns it may reject US-Ukraine peace plan if it fails to uphold Alaska summit ‘understandings’
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested Moscow could reject the White House’s latest Ukraine peace deal framework if it doesn’t uphold the “spirit and letter” of the understandings reached at the August Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov said at a news conference Tuesday that Russia is awaiting the updated version of the Trump administration’s latest peace plan aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.
He warned that if the terms of the “key understandings” are “extinguished” then the situation would become “fundamentally different.”
Russia has maintained its maximalist demands in negotiations, insisting Ukraine be barred from joining NATO and required to give up the rest of the Donbas as part of any peace deal.
RUSSIA BOMBARDS KYIV, KILLING AT LEAST 6, AS TRUMP PEACE PLAN MOVES FORWARD
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivers a speech for heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Russia in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 19, 2022. (Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool/AP Photo)
John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia Program, told Fox News Digital Moscow’s intransigence over the past 10 months has been the main obstacle to Trump’s diplomatic efforts.
“The United States has really shot itself in the foot by kind of flip-flopping between strategies. One month you’re trying to pressure the Russians and saying they’re the obstacle to peace. The next minute you’re trying to, you know, force their terms on Kyiv,” said Hardie.
“What we really need is sustained military support for Ukraine and economic pressure on Russia, and Putin has to realize that neither the Ukrainian military nor Western, especially U.S., resolve, are going to falter.”
Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine Sept. 7, 2025. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo)
Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Tuesday he remains skeptical about an end to the war, arguing the United States lacks the leverage to compel Moscow to halt its invasion.
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“Vladimir Putin, his strategic objective has always been to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine. He’ll engage in negotiations, but he does it to ensure that he’s asserting the primacy of Russia in his self-designated sphere of influence,” said Hoffman. “I just don’t see any evidence that Russia is going to pause in their relentless attacks on Ukraine.”
Ukrainian soldiers from the 115th Brigade Mortar Unit conduct mortar training as members of the Anti-UAV unit test an FPV drone inhibitor in Lyman, Ukraine. (Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukraine agreed Tuesday to a peace deal to end the war with Russia, but some details still need to be finalized, a U.S. official told Fox News.
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U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi Monday and Tuesday to discuss the framework for a Ukraine peace deal. The U.S. official said a Ukrainian delegation was also in Abu Dhabi and in contact with Driscoll and his team.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report
Published on
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will travel to Moscow on Friday to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to media reports.
The information came from Hungarian government sources who were involved in the preparations of the trip, according to investigative central European outlet VSquare.
The Hungarian government has not confirmed the visit at this time, with Budapest saying it would inform the public about Orbán’s programme in due time.
The agenda for the meeting is not yet known. But Orbán has maintained ties to Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the two leaders have kept in regular touch, meeting in person three times since early 2022.
The Hungarian premier has repeatedly stated he was in favour of an immediate ceasefire and peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Orbán called on the European Union to support Washington’s peace efforts and engage in direct negotiations with Russia.
‘”Europeans must immediately and unconditionally support the peace initiative of the President of the United States,” Orbán said in a letter sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday.
“In addition to supporting the US president, we must, without delay, launch autonomous and direct diplomatic negotiations with Russia,” he added.
Europeans ‘prefer to continue the war,’ Orbán says
Hungary is one of the few European countries that imports large quantities of Russian oil and gas, despite the European Union’s efforts to decouple from Moscow’s fossil fuels.
During a visit to Washington in November, Orbán secured exemptions from Washington’s secondary tariffs targeting Russia’s oil exporters Rosneft and Lukoil.
Addressing US President Donald Trump, Orbán also blamed the European Union for what he said was its support of the war.
“Your peace efforts are splendid, but the problem is Brussels, the Europeans. They prefer to continue the war, because they still think Ukraine can win on the front line,” Orbán said.
Earlier, Trump announced direct talks with Putin in Budapest, only for the meeting to be called off by Washington, citing a lack of agreement with Moscow.
Following the leak of the US-Russia 28-point plan last week, said to be strongly in favour of Moscow, Ukrainian and European representatives have met with their US counterparts for further talks, followed by a counterproposal offering more guarantees for Ukraine.
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