Heavy rainfall and poor visibility likely caused the pilot to misjudge the landing route, officials say.
Fourteen people on a small jet died when the plane crashed in Brazil’s northern Amazonas state.
The aircraft’s pilot approached the tourist town of Barcelos in heavy rain with low visibility, and appeared to inadvertently start landing halfway down the runway, Amazonas state security secretary Vinicius Almeida told a news conference.
The plane ran out of the landing strip and crashed, he added. Media reports showed the white jet belly-down on a dirt track, its front end crumpled into dense vegetation.
“I deeply regret the death of the 12 passengers and two crew members who were victims of the plane crash in Barcelos on Saturday,” said Wilson Lima, governor of Amazonas state, on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Our teams have been working from the outset to provide the necessary support. My sympathy and prayers go out to their families and friends.”
In an interview with O Globo newspaper, Lima said the bodies were removed from the aircraft and all the victims were Brazilian tourists.
The region faces heavy rainfall and the most likely cause of the accident was an error in the route taken at the time of landing, Lima added.
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