In a tragic aviation incident that shook Brazil’s largest city on Sunday morning, two helicopters collided in flight over Rio de Janeiro before crashing in the city’s western district, leaving no survivors among the six people on board both aircraft, according to local fire officials.
The Rio de Janeiro Military Fire Department confirmed that one of the downed helicopters fell onto the parking lot of a local car dealership. The crash and subsequent impact ignited an intense blaze that destroyed a number of electric vehicles parked on the lot; emergency crews have already fully extinguished the fire, clearing the crash site for official accident investigation.
Witness accounts from local residents paint a harrowing picture of the mid-air disaster. Fernandes de Freitas, a tire repair worker who was nearby when the collision occurred, told reporters he saw one of the helicopters engulfed in flames immediately after impact. He also recalled that one passenger managed to jump from the second damaged helicopter moments before it crashed into the ground. “It was terrifying, absolutely horrifying,” de Freitas said of the scene he witnessed.
Officials have launched a full official investigation to pinpoint the root cause of the collision, though no preliminary findings have been released to the public as of Sunday. Multiple high-profile public figures are among those confirmed or suspected to be on the passenger manifest provided to aviation authorities.
Police confirmed that American singer and comedian Oliver Tree was listed as a passenger on the documents turned over to aviation officials. However, formal identification of all victims’ remains has not yet been completed, so authorities have not officially confirmed Tree’s death. Tree had recently been touring South America: he performed a show in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 4, and just one day before the crash, he posted a public Instagram video of himself playing soccer with locals in a Brazilian neighborhood.
One victim has already been formally identified by his employer. Argentine streaming channel Blender confirmed that 23-year-old popular content creator Gaspar Prim Díaz, known widely by his online alias Gaspi, was a passenger on one of the two helicopters. Gaspi had built a massive fanbase on YouTube, amassing more than 2.8 million subscribers for his content. In a public tribute posted to the channel’s X account, the network wrote: “Thanks for your art, your magic and your sensibility, every one of us will miss you.”
Ramiro Barreiro contributed reporting from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press continues to provide ongoing coverage of Latin American current events, with full reporting available at the outlet’s dedicated Latin America news hub.